Extra tuition
by Marauder's legacy
Summary: Ever wondered how James managed to change in his sixth year? Well, this is the story of Annie Jordan helping James to become the man he always was destined to be and learning quite a few things about herself in the process. Only complication: Love
1. Chapter 1

Hi everybody!

Don't worry: "Sparkle of Hope" our other story is still being continued but seeing at it is the holidays right now and having in this idea for the story in the back of my mind for ages, I thought I give it a try to post it here. Please review!

Luv

Prongs

Chapter 1 – Dumbledore's idea

Annie was sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room, enjoying a little bit of spare time, reading one of her favourite books. It was her sixth year and though she had sat the OWLS a year ago the study load hadn't lessened, as she had previously hoped.

Therefore she hardly had any time left to read or do other things she enjoyed. Even though she wasn't bad in classes she didn't enjoy studying at all.

She glanced over the top of her book and took in the happenings in the Common Room. The first and second years had already gone to bed, so there were only third till seventh years around.

She hardly knew any of these people, being this kind of person that was overlooked most of the time. She was small, just 150 centimeters high, had short brown hair and black eyes.

She had a normal built, nothing spectacular.

And being not spectacular at all and part of Gryffindor house at the same time, plainly meant that you had to be overlooked. Gryffindor, a house praised for its bravery and heroics meant that the people most popular were the people most noticed. Sadly enough she wasn't one of them.

It had never disturbed her…much. She had come to live with it. Being a half-blooded witch, she grew up with the wish to attend Hogwarts some day. She was the youngest of four children and her brothers and sister had all left the school already, all of them being Prefects and two of them Head-Girl and Head-Boy. Only she had never achieved anything of that sort.

She was used to it by now. The only thing that still bothered her from time to time was the lack of friends, she got along with people just fine, being the friendly and understanding person she was, but people never seemed to take the effort to take a second look at her, why should they?

Annie looked at four guys of her own year, who were snickering at something in the corner of the Common Room. She knew who that people were: They were Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, James Potter and Peter Pettigrew, the infamous Marauders.

Annie doubted though that even one of these boys knew her name, not that she had ever spoken to them. She liked them though, loving pranks herself and having played a few when she was at home, she could only wonder about their creativity when it came to inventing new tricks.

She noticed James Potter saying something quietly to Remus and Sirius, who laughed in reply.  
Then, when he lifted his gaze their eyes met for a short moment. Annie blushed and looked back down on her book, she didn't want James to think that she was watching him, even though this was technically true.

"Hey Evans!" she heard him shout and groaned. Not again! "Will you go to Hogsmeade with me this week-end?"

"Over my dead body Potter." Lily Evans shouted back and joined the talk with her friends once more.

Lily was sharing a dormitory with her and was a very nice girl, she was Prefect and very popular. Even though they had never exactly been friends, they came along well enough and in the past, Annie had asked Lily for help if she needed any with her schoolwork. The only annoying thing about her, were her constant bickerings with James, well not so much the arguments the two of them had, but the constant discussions in the girls dormitory what a prat James Potter was.

Annie snapped her book shut, she wasn't in the mood for reading any more. She stood up, planning on calling it an early night, when a smallish looking boy approached her.

"Excuse me, are you Annie Jordan?"

"Yeah, I am," Annie replied surprised.

"I've got a note for you from Professor Dumbledore." The boy said hastily, obviously in a haste to explain why he had addressed her in the first place. He handed her a small roll of parchment and went to sit with his friends once more.

"Thanks" Annie mumbled and sat back down. What on earth did the headmaster want from her. It wasn't as if he had ever acknowledged her presence before.

Annie quickly unrolled the parchment and read:

Dear Miss Jordan,

I have a very urgent matter to discuss with you that can't wait any longer. It would be highly appreciated if you could come to my office tonight at 9 o'clock.

The password is Chocolate Frogs.

Yours sincerely

Professor Albus Dumbledore

Annie quickly checked her watch, it was five to nine. Bugger! She jumped up, leaving her book on the table, and raced out of the Portrait hole, not noticing that another scroll of parchment had just been delivered to a fellow sixth year.

While Annie jogged along the deserted corridors she couldn't help but wonder what the headmaster wanted. Her marks were standard, well except divination where she sucked great time, but that was hardly a reason to be called to the headmaster's office. Prefects were already chosen and though their sixth year had just started there was no way that there would be any change in the headmaster's decision about that.

So the only possible reason of summoning her on such a quick notice would be…her family. Michael her biggest brother, who was now 24, was her best and well only friend…she wouldn't be able to stand if anything happened to them.

Annie sped up, she had to know what had happened. Arriving in front of the headmaster's office, she quickly said "Chocolate Frogs" and stepped on the moving staircase. The only reason she knew exactly where to go was the fact that she had seen the marauders being dragged here by an infuriated Professor McGonagall.

Before the staircase had even stopped moving, Annie was already knocking at the headmaster's door and barely waited to hear "Enter" from inside before opening it and rushing in.

"Good evening Miss Jordan. I am pleased to see that you have followed my invitation that quickly, although I daresay that there was no need for you running here…"

Dumbledore was interrupted by the frantic girl in mid sentence.

"Professor, is there anything wrong with my family? Was it you-know…?"

"Call him Voldemort Miss Jordan. Always call the things by their true name, fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself."

Annie just nodded, it was mostly her parents' wishes that she didn't mention the evil wizard's name, which brought her back to the question at hand.

"Professor, has Voldemort done anything to my parents or my siblings, are they hurt?"

Voldemort gave her an apologetic glance.

"They are perfectly fine Miss Jordan, I am sorry, if I invoked the impression that this was the reason I needed to see you. " Dumbledore explained reassuringly.

"However I do have a reason for summoning you here and in some way it does have something to do with Voldemort – before I continue though I must ask you to keep the information I am going to give you highly confidential, you are not allowed to tell anyone."

Annie gave a small snort. "As if I had anyone to tell in the first place" she added grimly to herself.

It seemed that Dumbledore had second guesses what she had thought:

"If you agree to help me, I think it will be as much for your benefit as for others. Being alone isn't good for anyone, Annie."

Annie looked at him, startled. Dumbledore merely continued as if nothing had happened.

"Do you agree to help me and not to tell anyone? I'm sorry but I must ask you to promise before I continue.

Annie swallowed. It seemed that what Dumbledore was going to tell her was of great importance but could she agree to do something without even having the tiniest bit of information about it. In the end it all came down to the question if she trusted Dumbledore and the answer was an easy one to give.

"Yes sir, I promise."

"Then I will explain to you the exact reason why you are here. See, earlier this night I had a surprising visit from a wizard from the future."

Dumbledore said this all in a voice as if there wasn't anything as normal as having someone from the future for dinner every night. Annie opened her mouth to say something but was cut-off by the headmaster.

"Yes, I know Miss Jordan that time travelling is not only highly dangerous but that it is also strictly forbidden to meddle with the past. However I personally think that the "visitor" had very good reasons for coming here, so let's put this minor problems aside, shall we? Yes where was I, right, this visitor told me that the only person to ever vanquish Voldemort would be the child of two students, currently attending this school. The problem is that these two students don't really share the kind of relationship they need to have in order to have a son, who is destined to defeat the most evil wizard of this age."

Annie looked at him, slowly the pieces were beginning to fit in. "So you want me to play matchmaker?" Surely that couldn't be too hard.

Dumbledore seemed to be happy that she had caught on this quickly.

"That is indeed what I wanted to ask you to do."

"So who are the two future lovebirds?" Annie replied grinning. This task didn't seem too bad, after all it would give her time to get her thoughts of a black-haired someone.

"Lily Evans and James Potter"

The grin on her face vanished in an instant. Annie stared at Dumbledore horror-stricken. There was absolutely no bloody way she would help the two of them get together. She only needed to find some reasons now which she could tell her headmaster because she would under no circumstances tell him the true reasons for not doing what he asked, well…it wasn't as if there were any 'true reasons', at least that was what she was trying to tell herself.

"Professor, you got the wrong person here." She said hastily, willing him to understand. "I am neither friends with Lily nor James…"

"What will make you the perfect person for this job, because this way they won't suspect anything."

"Professor, I have hardly ever spoken to them. Besides I am not the best person to ask about personal relationships."

Dumbledore smiled at her in an understanding way.

"I am sure you will do just fine. Now Mr Potter will arrive here shortly on an invitation I have sent him and I will arrange for him to tutor you in DADA, three nights a week, this should give you more than enough time to talk to him, don't you think?"

Annie merely gaped at him. It seemed as if Dumbledore had already planned all of this before she had even set foot in his office…

"Professor…" There was a knock on the door and before Annie could say anything else, Dumbledore called:

"Enter!"

The door opened and James Potter entered the office with an uncertain look on his face, clearly not knowing what to expect. Annie thought she knew why…she had seen the marauders earlier, when they had set an enormous load of stinkbombs on the caretaker's cat. He didn't seem to have noticed her so far, as usual.

"Good evening Mr Potter." Dumbledore said pleasantly.

James seemed to take courage from the twinkling in the headmaster's eyes.

"Good evening Sir. May I ask why you wanted to see me?"

"Indeed you may." Dumbledore replied good naturedly. "This here is Miss Annie Johnson. I trust you two know each other being in the same year and house.

James threw her a questioning look.

"Yeah James, it's true. I am a Gryffindor Sixth year as well and I have seen you around occasionally."

"Must have missed you." James said friendly but not sounding to bothered.

"Well," Dumbledore continued as if there hadn't been any interruption. "I heard from your Defense Against The Dark Arts-Professor that Annie would need some private tutoring and I thought you'd be the best candidate for the job, after all you've got an Outstanding in your DADA-OWL if I am not very much mistaken."

Annie kept her mouth firmly shut, while her cheeks turned red. Doing Dumbledore this favour was one thing, being displayed as an idiot in DADA, where the only thing she was lacking was focus, because of the marauders sitting close by, was another. But she had agreed to do this, so there was no turning back now.

James had to have mistaken her blushing for being embarrassed because of her DADA marks.  
"Hey don't worry Annie. I, myself can't do Potions even if my life depended on it."

Annie smiled fleetingly at him, he was pretty nice, so much was for sure. Maybe there was some feeling on his side. A big warm bubble was growing inside of her.

"But sir, couldn't you get Remus to teach her…" BANG! The bubble was gone. "No offence Annie, but I am rather busy…"

"None taken." Lie of the century! She had tried to imitate James' casual sound of voice but was afraid that this didn't work. Thank Merlin, James wasn't one of the most observant people.

"No Mr Potter, I am afraid, I must ask you to sacrifice, some of your precious sparetime."

Annie threw Dumbledore an irritated look. Had he just used the word "sacrifice"?

"If you find this time, maybe I can lift the Quidditch ban, for your next game against Slytherin, after all it will be the first match of the season."

Now he was actually bribing him! Annie found it hard to breath, she felt as if she had never been so much humiliated in her whole life.

James seemed to ponder what he had just heard.

"Alright Sir, I'll do it." He finally said in a voice that clearly stated that he wasn't sure how to feel about this whole affair."

"Excellent, I knew I could count on you my boy. What about you meet thrice a week in the Room of Requirements. I trust you know where that room is James"

"Thrice?" It was James now who seemed to be gasping for breath, but when he saw the look on the girl's face he caught himself. "Alright thrice the week it is."

"Thank you. Now I wish you a pleasant night and Miss Jordan I want a regular update on the progress you make."

Annie just nodded her head, she had understood.

"Well then, you are dismissed."

While James was still looking at Dumbledore, Annie had already run from the room, trying to find a place to hide and think.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N Thank you so much for the first review Tsumetai Moon Child. I managed to write a second chapter today even though I should actually be working on a big homework for university. Well, who cares. Anyhow, PLEASE do review and tell me what you like/dislike. Otherwise there's no chance for me to improve my writing skills.

Have fun reading and remember: Nothing is my own, well except Annie )

Chapter 2 – Just a bad day

Bugger, bugger, bugger!

This was an absolute nightmare, no scratch that, this was purely hell. What had she done to deserve this? Wasn't there any justice left in the world? What was she going to do?

Annie checked her watch, it was past curfew now but she didn't care. There was no way she was going to return to the Common Room now, only to be pestered by half of Gryffindor house. She looked outside, it was dark and though it wasn't exactly winter yet the nights were already quite cool.

She shrugged. She needed to get out of here to think and her favourite spot was one of the big trees near the lake.

Using the shortcuts she knew she soon arrived in front of the great oak-door and, quickly checking again that no one was around, she made her way outside.

When she finally reached the tree she sunk done, she could feel tears running down her face but she didn't care.

Dumbledore had told her to get James Potter and Lily Evans together and all of this for a greater good, there was no way the feelings of an unimportant girl like herself could overrule this.

She was startled when she felt something on the inside of her robes grew hot and realized with a jolt that she had promised her big brother to contact him tonight with her two way mirror. She quickly wiped her tears away and putting a fake smile on her face pulled out mirror.

"Hey Sis!" came Michael's cheerful voice. "What are you up…? Have you been crying? What's wrong?"

His concerned voice brought a fresh set of tears to her eyes.

"Michael-hic- Dumbledore just summoned me to his-hic- office. He said he had a job for me."

"What kind of job Annie?" Michael prodded carefully.

"He –hic- wants me to get two fellow students together."

Michael threw her a questioning glance. "This can't be all of it Annie, simply playing matchmaker wouldn't upset you this much."

"The two people are Lily Evans and James Potter."

"WHAT?" Michael was startled. Even though he hadn't been at Hogwarts for ages he knew about the current ongoins in the student body, having quite a few friends who had younger siblings at Hogwarts and being Annie's only friend to talk to. He was very protective of his baby-sister and quite sad about the fact that she hadn't made any close friends at school. He himself had been quite popular, being Head-Boy and all. Even though Annie wasn't that talkative concerning her fellow students, she had of course told him about James Potter and the marauders. Even though they had never talked about Annie's feeling concerning him, Michael thought he knew what was so upsetting for Annie but he also knew that Annie would never admit to him the true feeling, it seemed that she was still struggling to admit it to herself.

Annie seemed to not have noticed him spacing out, obviously she had gone back to silently crying.

"Pup, don't cry!" Michael used his nickname for her, he had given to her since she was very little and always carrying a small fluffy toy dog around.

Annie exhaled deeply and tried to compose herself.

"I can't do that Michael." She sobbed. "I just can't. Dumbledore made me promise though."

"I think I am going to have a nice little chat with my old headmaster, Annie."

"You-you can't. I wasn't supposed to tell anyone. There are reasons behind it, Mike, big reasons. But I can't tell you…"

"Listen Annie, it's alright I won't go talk to him, if you don't want me to. But please be honest with yourself, pup. Think about your own feelings and don't do anything that will hurt you."

Annie nodded but Michael knew that she was going to do as she promised, she always stuck to her promises and he knew that she would do as Dumbledore asked her, even if that meant that she would rip her own heart apart.

"Annie I'll visit you next week-end on your Hogsmeade trip. Then we can talk that through once more."

"Thanks Michael" Annie managed a watery smile.

"What are big brothers for Pup. I'll see you next week-end then."

"Yeah, thanks a lot. Bye."

The mirror went black and Annie stared at her reflection. There was nothing she could do about the promise she had given Dumbledore, nothing. She would have to do as he had asked.

Sighing she stood up and wiped her face on her sleeves. She was shivering, she hadn't even noticed that it had began to rain and she was soaked to the bone.

With a great effort she heaved herself up and began slowly walking towards the castle.

Close by, a black dog stood up as well and followed the girl in a safe distance, not wanting to be spotted.

When Annie arrived at the castle, she tugged on the great oak door…but it didn't budge. Rage was boiling up inside of her and she gave the door a hard kick which only caused her to feel even more miserable as before because now on top of all things her foot was hurting.

"Stupid, annoying little…"

"You're not talking to the door right…?" A cheerful voice suddenly came from behind her and Annie spun around only to find herself facing an annoyingly cheerful Sirius Black.

Annie however was in no mood for jokes anymore, least of all for jokes about her.

"It's none of your business Black," she hissed. Normally she didn't mind Sirius, but right now he was the only person around and she was in a very pissy mood indeed.

"You're hurting me Jordan." He said in a mock hurt voice.

Annie stared at him in disbelief, how came that he actually knew her name. James had given her the expression that he didn't even have the slightest idea that she existed at all.

After a moment she regained her composure.

"Cut it out. I am in absolutely no mood for that," Annie silently prayed that her eyes weren't all puffy and red, the last thing she needed was Sirius Black announcing to the world that he had caught her bawling her eyes out, then on the other hand who would really care.

Sirius just watched her for a moment and then grabbed her hand.

"Follow me Jordan, I know a secret passageway to get into the castle. Just stay quiet." Annie was so dumfounded by his actions that she couldn't say much anyhow.

It didn't even take them ten minutes to arrive in front of the portrait hole and after Sirius sweet talked the fat lady she grudgingly let them in.

Annie threw herself unceremoniously into her favourite fluffy chair near the fireplace. The Common Room was deserted; everybody seemed to have gone up to bed.

Sirius had sunk down in a chair opposite her, watching her with a curious look on his face.

Annie felt her face grew hot, why in all world had she taken her anger out on him, he wasn't responsible for Dumbledore's stupid plan.

"Listen Sirius, I am sorry I snapped at you earlier. And I wanted to thank you for helping me to get back inside."

"Don't worry Jordan…I mean Annie. Everybody can have a bad day."

"Well, thanks anyhow, Sirius, I'll be heading up to bed. Classes tomorrow. Good-night." And with that said she left a very thoughtful looking Sirius Black behind and made her way towards her dormitory.

Even though it was past midnight Annie could still hear the other girls' voices when she arrived in front of her dormitory door. She groaned, the last thing she needed was to see Lily Evans right now and to be interrogated by her. With a deep breath she turned the handle and walked inside.

"Hey Annie. Where have you been?" Stefanie, one of her fellow sixth years asked.

"Out." Annie replied vaguely, hoping to make it clear that she didn't wish to talk about it.

"You mean outside?" Joanne shrieked. "Is that why you are all soaking wet.

Annie merely nodded at this.

"What in the wold have you been outside for?" This time it was Lily's voice.

"I was watching the stars." Annie snapped in a harsher voice than she had intended.

Her tone of voice made the other girls shut up instantly. Annie, who was glad that she had managed to end their questioning, took her PJs and quickly went into the bathroom to change and to calm down.

She tried to reason with herself. After all it wasn't Lily's fault that she was supposed to marry her fiancé one day. Hang on, her fiancé? Where on earth did that come from?

Annie took another deep calming breath. Was that why she had taken Dumbledore's order so bad? Because she had a crush on him? Loved him?

Well, half of Gryffindor house's female population claimed to be in love with James Potter, but Annie herself was sure that she had never been nearly as obvious as the rest of them.

'That might also be the reason why he didn't know you existed until this night.' A small bitter voice in her head added. But why in all world had she fallen for this guy? It wasn't as if they ever even had a conversation together, let alone hung out together. She hardly knew him and nonetheless she felt heartbroken when she thought about him getting married to her roommate Lily Evans in the near future.

What was it, she liked so much about him? Well for one, he wasn't bad looking. His unruly black hair was cute to no end and rather then thinking it dumb she loved it when he ran his fingers through it in order to make it look even messier. But it wasn't only his looks she felt attracted to. Well, she could drown in his brown eyes but she also loved his character.

Annie knew from watching him that he often seemed arrogant and conceived, that was the only side Lily saw in him.

But Annie knew that there was another side to James. One of loyalty and bravery. He'd always stick up for his friends no matter what, hell he would even stick up for Evans, but she like always took that the wrong way.

Annie also knew about Sirius Black's fallout with his family and through her brother she also knew that Sirius was currently staying at the Potter's during the holidays. It all fit, considering the fact that half of the time James hexed the Slytherins, was because they insulted his best mate, well the other half and Severus Snivellus Snape was just for the fun of it.

Annie couldn't help but grin, she definitely needed a life on her own, she knew way too much about a person she had spoken to only once in her life.

She sighed and returned to her dormitory, where all the other girls feigned sleep, obviously not wanting to be on the receiving end of her wrath once more.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N Hello back, everyone. First I wanted to thank the two people who have reviewed the second chapter: madpoet08 and alexekia2222. Thanks so much. It really means a lot to me to read that you guys enjoy the story so far. And yes madpoet, your assumptions to where this story is heading were correct, even though there might be some little twists in it later on. I love writing this character cause she reminds me a lot of myself. I enjoyed writing this chapter immensely and I hope that you will have as much fun reading it.

Please review! It would mean a lot to me.

Luv

Prongs

Chapter 3 – Kitchen talks

Annie cursed under her breath. She had just woken up and found that classes started in about fifteen minutes, which meant that she obviously would have to skip breakfast. The other girls had to be mad at her for snapping at them the night before and didn't wake her.

Well, she would just pop down to the kitchens after her first period, since she would have a spare period then.

She checked her timetable and groaned, she had Slughorn first. She knew that she would have to survive one hour of her Potions professor praising Evans and she was not sure if she would be able to stand it.

She thought for a moment and then decided that she'd skip her first lesson of the day. Slughorn normally bought every lie you told him and if she said that she had been feeling sick this morning she might even avoid detention, if not, be it.

She quickly dressed and made her way through the deserted Common Room, all of her housemates seemed to have classes right now.

Carefully, trying not to bump into any teachers, she walked the so familiar route to the kitchens. Having quite some time with nothing much to do in the past, she had done a lot of exploring and had ended up in the kitchens one night in the middle of her first year.

Since then she always went down there, when she didn't feel like company and as the year progressed this had been the case surprisingly often.

When she opened the door it only took a few seconds until she was surrounded by a large number of house elves who were bowing profoundly. Annie asked them for a little spot of breakfast and soon found herself sitting at one of the tables with a huge continental breakfast in front of her, which would have been enough for at least five people. Annie just grinned, she knew how obsessed house elves were with caring for witches and wizards.

She had just started on her favourite morning food, pancakes, when the kitchen door opened. Without another thought she let herself drop under the table, praying that it wasn't some teacher who was here to give an order to the house-elves. Her head of house for instance seemed to have memorized all of the Gryffindors' timetables. Or even worse it could be a member of the Slug Club or maybe it was…

"Hey Prongs…what do you want to have for breakfast?"

"The usual, Moony, eggs, toast…!"

The marauders. What were they doing in the kitchens right now? Weren't they supposed to have classes or annoy some people far far away from this kitchen?

Annie's heart seemed to stop when she saw the four boys sitting down at her table, which must have obviously cleaned itself, when she had deserted it.

It was the first time in her life that she was actually thankful to the fact that she was rather small, this way she could stay crouched under the table without being kicked by the boys' dangling feet.

"So Moony…" Annie heard Sirius' voice from above. "What are we going to do next full moon. Got anything planned?"

Annie saw Remus Lupin's foot kicking Sirius…hard.

"OUCH! What the hell was that for?"

"You know Sirius, that I am not discussing my condition in public." Remus voice was sharp. "Anyone could listen."

Sirius laughed. "Who are you afraid will tell on you…the saucepans maybe."

James chimed in. "You know Remus that we don't care about your furry little problem."

When Remus spoke next, he sounded somewhat crestfallen.

"I know guys, but let's just drop it. I am glad when I don't have to think about it. Once a month is definitely enough"

There was silence and Annie guessed that the other boys had just nodded their agreement. She on the other hand was confused. What was the furry little problem, Remus had? Maybe a misbehaved rabbit?

But she was pulled from her musings when Remus spoke next.

"So Prongs, what did Dumbledore want from you last night?"

James groaned. "Is there anything that you don't know? How did you find out I went to see him anyway?"

"Map." Sirius said simply.

"What did he want?" Peter asked.

"Well, he wanted me to tutor some girl from our year in DADA." There were gasps around the table.

"Sure he didn't mistake you for good old Moony?" Sirius said awestruck. "You suck at tutoring Prongs. I remember the one time you had to explain something to Peter here, he didn't get out of the hospital wing for three days."

Remus, who Annie guessed had just taken an enormous gulp of coffee snorted and promptly began coughing. James patted him on the back, harder than needed, Annie suspected.

"THAT, wasn't my fault. Everybody knows that you simply don't do enhancing charms on living objects."

"Sorry to interrupt you Prongs" Remus said "but the point of tutoring is helping people who don't know these kind of things."

James chose to ignore this comment.

"At any rate, I am screwed; I have to tutor this girl three times a week. Three times! Honestly, how thick can you get? Which normal kind of person would need tutoring thrice a week, not even Wormtail here is that stupid.

"HEY!"

"Sorry Wormy," James said but he didn't sound as if he actually meant it.

Annie felt as if someone had hit her, hard. Had James Potter just called her stupid? He didn't even know her.

"Just stay calm" she told herself.

"You don't really mean that, do you James?" It was Sirius' voice she heard now and it sounded harsh somehow, even though Annie had no idea why.

"What…? No I don't Padfoot!" James admitted somewhat distractedly. "The girl has nothing to do with it actually, she didn't look as if she liked the fact that Dumbledore asked me to tutor her."

"What are you so upset about than?" Moony asked and in his voice Annie could detect a hint of concern.

"Evans" James said darkly. A collective groan was the answer and it was hard for Annie not to groan along. What had the fiery redhead done this time?"

As if Sirius had read her mind he asked: "What has she done now?"

"I met her this morning in the Common Room and she was in a quite bad mood to begin with." James explained.

Annie felt a guilty squirm inside her stomach, knowing why Lily Evans had been angry this morning.

"And I guess seeing that you didn't just let her be and minded your own business." Remus threw in, meaning it to be more of a rhetorical question than anything else.

"Where would the fun be in that?" Sirius interrupted. "So what did you say to her Prongs?"

"Nothing really, I just asked her why she was in such a bad mood."

Annie could almost feel Remus penetrating look through the table, even though he had to be focussing on James right now.

"And you said it exactly like that? And then she just bit your head off without any reason at all."

James started fidgeting in his seat. "Well I didn't say it exactly that way. It went more along the lines of: "Hey Evans! Why are you in such a foul mood already? Could it be that you regret it now that you turned me down yesterday. You know my offer still stands.'"

Another loud groan was the answer that met James' little speech, and Annie couldn't help to groan along quietly this time.

"What in Merlin's name was James Potter thinking of saying stuff like that to the girl he admired, maybe even loved?" She chose to ignore the aching pain in her chest she felt while thinking about this. Dumbledore had been at least partially right. James Potter indeed needed a lot of help, if there was to be a Prongs Junior in a few years.

To no one's surprise it was Remus who spoke next.

"You know Prongs" he said carefully. "This might not be the best method of approaching a girl like Lily Evans. She is intelligent, good-looking, hot-tempered and proud. I think you will have to change your course of action.

The four sat in silence after Remus' proposition.

"I'll think about it Moony, even though I hardly know how to talk to girls otherwise." James said at last.

Suddenly Sirius jumped up. "Didn't we want to catch Snivellus before heading to our next class? I thought we wanted to try that new spell on him."

"That's right mate." James agreed and rose to his feet as well, even though more graceful than Sirius.

Peter followed them squeaking excitedly and so did a half laughing, half groaning Remus.

Annie remained in her hiding spot until she was sure that the four mischief makers had finally gone and than went back to her dormitory as fast as possible in order to grab her things for her afternoon classes, trying not to think about all the things she had just heard, but failing miserably.


	4. First tuition session

A/N Hello everybody! Here is the next chapter. I hope you guys like it. I've been working on it for a few days now and I am still not satisfied with it. I just hope that I am not moving to quick, I just thought that James needed to catch on Annie's problem, so they can reach some sort of agreement later on.

Well, as you already know: Nothing is my own.

And I beg you! Please do review!

Prongs

PS. I think I haven't answered the question yet why I call myself Prongs but the nick I am posting under is Marauder's legacy. It's easy to explain really: "Marauder's legacy" is not only me but also a friend of mine and we are writing our other big fanfic together. This one here however, is my own project, so every time a fic under this nick is just signed Prongs you know who to blame.

Chapter 4 – First tuition session

Annie's next few days weren't fun at all. The other girls were giving her the silent treatment and though she was used to being alone she had to commit that she missed that light hearted conversations in her dormitory. On top of all this Slughorn had been tipped off that she hadn't really been sick and she was condemned to serve three detentions with him.

On Friday morning, she went down to the Great Hall in order to have breakfast. When she was drinking her pumpkin juice, four boys sat down around her, the Marauders. This caused her to nearly drown on her juice.

"Good morning Jordan." Sirius said cheerfully.

James gave him a suspicious glance. "How do you two know each other?"

Annie sent Sirius a begging look. She just hoped that he wouldn't tell his friends the truth. She was embarrassed enough as it was, even without having Sirius telling James that she had managed to be locked out.

"We met… fleetingly." Was all Sirius said on James' question. James didn't pursue this matter any further.

"Look…ehm…" James began

"Annie"

"Yeah Annie, Dumbledore said we're supposed to meet thrice a week, so I thought it'd be best if we met tonight at about seven in the room of Requirements. I trust you know how to get inside?"

"Yes I do, I've been there before." Annie told him, her voice quite cool, she still wasn't over the fact that James had called her stupid.

James looked puzzled, after all he didn't know that she had been in the kitchens as well. Lupin though had indeed caught on her icy tone of voice.

"Hi Annie" Remus said smiling and extended his hand. "I'm Remus Lupin"

Annie shook it. "Hi! Nice to meet you."

"You're sharing a dormitory with Lily and her friends right?" he asked her. "I think I've seen you around.

"Yeah that's right and you probably would have seen me, since I've started school with you." Annie said simply. She didn't need to bring up the topic of….

"Lily Evans?" James' face lit up. "You share a dormitory with her?" He had a look on his face as if Christmas had come early. Annie could feel the eyes of all the boys on her and she prayed that they wouldn't notice how uncomfortable she was, discussing the topic of Lily Evans, especially with one certain James Potter.

"Yeah that's what I said wasn't it." She snapped irritably, "and no James I won't ask her if she'll go on a date with you."

She rose from her seat.

"I've got to go, classes you know. I guess I'll see you tonight James. Bye!" and she hastily exited the Great Hall but not without hearing James' thoroughly confused voice.

"What in Merlin's name was that?"

Could one die of embarrassment? If that was possible, Annie knew she would drop dead within the next few seconds.

What had gotten into her?

How was she supposed to bring James and Lily together when she kept snapping at the two of them? So much for Dumbledore's plan of making it easier, because she was an outsider.

Outsider…right. She was much more involved in this than she'd have wished for.

And tonight was to be the first tutoring session with James. How was she going to survive this? Or an even better question was, how to bring up the fact that she would help him to win Evan's heart.

What was she supposed to say!

"Hey Potter. You know your dating skills are absolute rubbish, but Dumbledore needs you to produce a kid as soon as possible?"

Not really!

"Hey Potter! You really need to brush up on your dating skills, because otherwise the whole wizardring community will be screwed."

"Well, I am getting closer" , Annie thought sarcastically.

What about the truth…ehm not likely:

"Hey Potter. You do realize that you make a complete fool out of yourself when you're talking to Lily but who cares cause she doesn't deserve you anyhow. Take me instead!"

Annie sniffed. Yeah this was so likely to…

"Hey Annie! Wait up!" Annie turned around to find herself surprisingly looking at Lily Evans and what was even more, she didn't look as if she was about to kill her.

"Look Annie!" Lily said uncomfortable. "I am sorry for being so annoying that night. It really was none of my business what you were doing."

Annie squirmed uncomfortably. She didn't need…no she didn't want Lily Evans apologizing to her. Not being on speaking terms with her made it much easier to loathe her because of what was going to happen to her and James. She would have loved to tell the other girl to get lost, but she knew that she wasn't allowed to miss the chance to make up with this girl. She needed to be on good terms with both of them in order to make this work.

She looked at Lily and found that she really was looking as if she regretted what had happened earlier.

Annie couldn't help but to smile a bit.

"It's alright Lily. I was just in a bad mood already when I entered the dorm but I shouldn't have taken it out on you guys. I am sorry too."

They shook hands.

Lily checked her watch and paled.

"Don't we have Transfiguration right now?" she asked in a slightly panicked voice.

"Yeah. Why?" Annie asked.

"Because we should have been there about ten minutes ago.

"Bugger!" Annie exclaimed. "McGonagall is going to have our skin."

"Well the afternoon had been OK," Annie thought to herself once classes had finished. Making up with Lily clearly had its pros, for now finally the rest of her dorm was talking to her again. This really made life easier.

She was in her dorm right now, checking what she was going to wear. After class they were allowed to wear casual clothes after all and she did have an appointment with James Potter this night.

"It's not a date" said a small stern voice inside her. "He's tutoring you on Dumbledore's orders and he doesn't even want to."

"Still," Annie thought. "He could have gotten out of there if he really didn't like me."

"If he had, he wouldn't have been allowed to play Quidditch" said the small reasonable voice. "He chose Quidditch not you and on top of that he had been calling you stupid in the kitchens remember!"

"He didn't mean that. He said so himself. All that counts is that I am going to meet with him thrice a week from now on."

"You're meeting with him," said the voice, sounding exasperated now, "in order to get him together with Lily E…"

"Oh shut up!" Annie said loudly. She didn't want to think about it, yet. She had sworn to herself not to bring Lily up on their first meeting, not yet. She first wanted to get to know James better, maybe she could show him that there were other girls for him out there. Girls like her.

She checked her watch and found that it was time to go to the Room of Requirements. She had found this room on another of her night strolls around the castle. Filch had been hunting her on that occasion and the room had turned into a broom cupboard then to hide her. When she had taken another walk to the kitchen the house-elves had told her all about it and since then she had been using it quite frequently. Apart from her spot at the lake, it was the place she was staying at when she needed to think and sort things out with herself.

When she entered the room, after walking past it thrice and wishing for a room for extra lessons with James Potter, she found that her "teacher" had already arrived and was sitting in what looked like a mixture of their DADA classroom and the Gryffindor Common Room. It even held Annie's favourite fluffy red chairs.

James seemed to have forgotten about the incident this morning or had decided to try to start anew.

"Hi Annie" he smiled at her. "I see you found the room ok. Why don't you sit down!"

Annie did as she was told, mainly due to the fact that her knees had gone weak when she had seen James' brilliant smile being directed at herself for a change.

She swallowed nervously and tried to let her voice sound like it always did, looking at her own lap.

"Hi James!" with great difficulty she lifted her gaze to see a still smiling James Potter. "Yeah it was easy to find cause I've been here before. I wanted to thank you for tutoring me, I bet you'd have more important things to do…" and before she could stop herself she added, "more important at least than tutoring a way too thick Gryffindor."

There was silence than James asked quietly.

"I figure you also know how to get into the kitchens then?"

"Yes I do!" Annie replied quietly, not taking her eyes off him for a heartbeat. It was James' turn to look uncomfortable and nervous now.

"Look, Annie. I didn't mean to say this back then. I was just angry about Ev…about something. It wasn't fair from me, I'm sorry. Will you forgive me?" He placed a puppy look on his face.

Annie chuckled. "Yes it's alright. Normally I am not this touchy. It just came as a blow, that's all and my day hadn't been the best one until then."

James nodded understandingly but suddenly a mischievous glint entered his eyes.  
"Where were you hiding? If you don't mind me asking?" he asked in an amused voice. "And why?" he added as an afterthought.

Annie blushed profoundly. "Under your guys table. I was having breakfast there before but when I heard you enter I just kind of…ducked." James started laughing and Annie couldn't help but to laugh along a bit.

"As for the why…" she still said chuckling. "Well I skipped Potion that day and I was afraid that you might be some teachers."

James stopped laughing and regarded her thoughtfully.

"You skipped classes? Why on earth would you do that? I thought all of Evan's friends were as studious as her.

"I am not her friend." Annie said sharply. On James' confused look, she calmed herself down a bit and tried to explain it to him. "We share the same dormitory and we get along. But I've never been part of that giggling crowd around her…not my style." She grinned a bit. "As for me skiving classes, it's not that surprisingly really. You guys do it all the time so why shouldn't I?"

"Fair enough," James said. Annie thought that she had caught an admiringly look on his face but it was as quick gone as it had appeared. James cleared his throat and changed into something Annie would have called "teacher's mode"

"Now, for DADA. I thought we'd have a little practice duel first in order to decide what exactly you'll need help on."

Annie swallowed nervously. A practice duel? This didn't sound good at all. DADA was good for her as long as it was just theoretical stuff. Even though she didn't enjoy studying, her theoretical knowledge in this subject, exceeded her practical knowledge by length.

This was mainly due to the fact that her dad was an auror and had told her a lot about defence but being the smallest girl in a bunch of overprotective brothers (and sisters) she had never really gotten the chance to practice.

"Sure that's such a great idea?" Annie asked, desperately trying to find a way out of this situation without further embarrassing herself.

James seemed to notice her awkwardness, but didn't even grin at it.

"Come on, I'll be careful, alright?" he asked, making eye contact with her.

Annie sighed deeply. "Fine."

She drew her wand and got ready. James positioned himself opposite her, a few meters away. They bowed to each other.

"Expelliarmus" Annie cried but James had already cast an "Protego" and her spell easily bounced off.

"James quickly cast a tickling charm but Annie's own protection charm was too weak and James' hit her with full force. He quickly lifted the curse.

Annie didn't even want to look up. She felt humiliated. She couldn't even do a simple Shield Charm, what on earth had James to be thinking of her? Probably that his remark in the kitchens hadn't been too far from the truth.

James however quickly extended his hand and helped Annie back up. He could see the embarrassment reflected on her face and he felt sorry for her.

He too had felt embarrassed before and he knew how hard it was to get over the fact that you weren't as good at something as someone else.

He led her over to the wing chairs. She sat down and he took the seat opposite to her.

"Have you duelled before?" he asked quietly, not knowing how to approach this topic differently in order to avoid any further embarrassment for her.

Juliet didn't dare to look up. "Not really. Not ever gotten the chance to…" she answered quietly.

"How come?" He didn't get it. He was practicing with the rest of the marauders all the time and he also knew that most of the others did with their friends. Was there the possibility that…?

"Well, my family is pretty protective and here at school…I just don't have too many people to practice with." She jumped up and wanted to flee from the room but James had caught her.

"Look Annie…" he was at a loss for words. He needed Remus' for something like this.

"It's alright James." Annie said in a higher pitched voice than usual. "I suck at duelling. That's probably why Dumbledore wanted you to teach me. I am sorry I messed up. I just wasn't feeling well today that's all. Let's try this again tomorrow, shall we?"

And without even giving James' the chance to reply, she had fled from the room once more.

Wasn't there some law that put a limit to the amount of embarrassment you could endure during one day? Annie's face was beet red as she walked briskly towards Gryffindor tower. What was it with her and fleeing whenever a sensitive topic was being discussed. She couldn't remember to ever being so touchy before, that just wasn't like her.

She, even though she did have a hot temper, was the one to keep her feelings in check and not to go crying to someone. She didn't like others feeling pity for her, she hated it to be exact. And seeing this understanding look James had given her, had told her that he had figured her out. That he at least suspected what was up with her.

She groaned frustratedly. Life on her own had been so much easier. Having people around who talked to you more than the standard greetings and small-talks made life much more complicated. Sure it was nice, from time to time, but it also annoyed her greatly that she seemed to make an idiot out of herself most of the time.  
"Bloody teenage hormones!" she thought grudgingly. What was she to do to get out of this alive?

She prayed earnestly that James Potter was as thick as Lily Evans thought him to be. That he didn't understand what her lack of duelling practice really meant concerning her private life, that he didn't understand how lonely she often was.

She felt a small tear run down her cheek and brushed it away impatiently.

"Oh stop being such a baby." She ordered herself briskly. "You have done fine without anyone, so far…you don't need anyone." She said quietly to herself.

When she had first arrived at Hogwarts and it had become clear after the first few month that she didn't find any close friends at Hogwarts, she had been devastated. Being a half-blooded witch with both of her parents being magic folks, she had been home schooled until she had been old enough to attend Hogwarts.

This also meant that she had hardly been in contact with any kids her own age. She didn't blame her parents of course. Life hadn't been the safest with a lunatic like Lord Voldemort around. Spending so much time with her parents had forced her to grow up fast, not that they had noticed. Even though she was sixteen now her mother and father were still treating her like a six year old from time to time. So did her older siblings, all except Michael. He was the only one she had been able to define in and when she had started Hogwarts first she had wished for him to be there to keep her company nearly every day.

After five years of her own however she had learned to deal with it or so she had thought. Now, being forced by Dumbledore to actually become friends with the marauders and Lily was kind of scary. And it also made her an emotional wreck since she finally had to confront her own feelings.

The only comforting thought was the fact that tomorrow was Saturday and that she was going to see her older brother again. He had always been the one she had run to, no matter what kind of problem it was, from a really bad nightmare to a prank that had gone wrong, he had always been there and Annie sincerely hoped that he would know what to do, if he didn't than who would?

Annie went back to the Common Room feeling tired. Her day had been hard and not one she was keen on repeating.

She arrived in front of the portrait hole and mumbled the password. With a concerned look on her face, the fat lady swung open and Annie trudged inside.

Ignoring the happy and noisy people around her, she walked straight upstairs, changed quickly and fell into her bed, being asleep before her head hit the pillow.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Ok, there is no excuse for me to abandon a story for a year, but I had a major writer's block concerning HP fanfic and life has been stressful. I'll try my best to get back on track with all of my stories and try to update on a regular basis. I am still lacking a beta though, so if anyone would volunteer I would be eternally grateful, since English isn't my mother tongue. Just send me an email: anika. Thanks and please review so that I know if anyone is still reading and if the story is worth continuing.

Chapter 5 – A trip to Hogsmeade

Annie felt good or at least something like that. For the first time since Dumbledore had talked to her and she had started making a complete fool out of herself, she didn't feel the constant need to hammer her head into a wall. She was just minutes away from Hogsmeade and her best friend (and favorite brother) was waiting for her there. Michael would know what to do, offer her some perspective and maybe, just maybe find the ultimate solution to the problems she had. She nearly ran into Honeydukes, this being their usual meeting place.

When she recognized his short brown hair in the mass of people she started randomly pushing other students aside, only wanting to see the person who had always been the only one that could understand her. Being as set on her goal like she was, she didn't even notice the marauders standing a few feet away, looking for extravagant and possibly dangerous sweets. One pair of eyes was following her, the eyes of a boy with slightly long black hair and grey eyes.

Michael who had turned around in the meantime and had noticed her approaching just opened his arms and feeling like six again she just threw herself into him and hugged him.

"Michael," she mumbled, so that only he could hear. "I am so glad you're here."

"I promised you, didn't I?" He said pulling back from her and giving her a scrutinizing look.

"How have you been holding up?"

Annie busied herself with looking at some sweets that were right beside her, trying to avoid his caring glance.

"I am ok…mostly," she said quietly.

"Come on pub," he gave her shoulders a squeeze, let's get out of here and take a walk, ok?"

Annie nodded gratefully. She wasn't too keen on talking to her brother in a store packed with Hogwarts students. Her personal issues were strictly her own concern, period.

They started walking through the streets of Hogsmeade, not really caring where they ended up.

"So, how are you really holding up?"

Maybe it was the fact that she had spent most of last week bawling her eyes out, or the calming influence that Michael always seemed to have on her, but surprisingly Annie felt quite calm and collected when she opened her mouth to fill her brother in the happenings at Hogwarts and especially in her own life. There was just some underlying sadness there in all of her words, which made it quite clear how she really felt about all the stuff that had been going on.

"Well, there hasn't really been happening too much. The marauders and I get along ok, I guess and Lily and I are back on speaking terms again." She sighed, remembering why exactly she had agreed to accept Lily's apology. "I – it's just hard Michael, that's all."

She finally confessed to her big brother, who had always been her own Mr. Fix it, being eight years older than she was and always there for her when she needed him.

Michael didn't say anything, feeling there was still more to come.

"I mean I was used to being ignored and left alone. I was ok with it…" Michael just threw her an unbelieving glance. Annie merely shrugged. "Well at least I had my life under control, I knew who I could rely on. Right now, everything is a mess. I promised the headmaster to play matchmaker, but how on earth should I do that if I turn into a blubbering idiot every time a certain black-haired boy comes near me. Oh and have I mentioned that he didn't even know that I was attending Hogwarts, leave alone that I am in the same house and in the same year," she was in ranting mood now, glad to be able to vent to someone for a change and feeling anger instead of sadness and helplessness, which had been her constant companions since that night in Dumbledore's office. She didn't even look at Michael; she just stared straight ahead, not noticing any of her surroundings.

"For the headmaster it's easy enough. 'Miss Jordan, I'd like you to play matchmaker' he says, 'it will be to your own benefit as well'. Who the hell does he think he is or I am for that matter? Do I look like cupid to you? I am sorry, I must have misplaced my winged sandals… Agh!"

She fell silent again, kicking into the pebbles on the ground.

After a few moments Michael spoke up.

"Annie, I can absolutely understand why you are frustrated, everybody would be. But look on the bright side," he tried to lighten the mood. "Now you don't have to observe the marauders from afar, but you're actually talking to them, isn't that a step into the right direction?"

"Under different circumstances it would be," Annie quietly agreed, "but I am only getting close to James, so that I can get him together with Lily. I still have no clue how to manage that by the way. It's just all so unfair."

"I know," Michael agreed, inwardly cursing the headmaster under his breath. "But tell you what, once you succeed, you and I will go on a big trip next holidays and you can chose wherever we go and what we do!"

Annie's eyes lit up for the first time that day. "You serious?" Michael couldn't help but chuckle at the eagerness in her voice and was glad that the plan to distract her and cheer her up had obviously worked.

"Of course, I am serious." He noticed her red cheeks and her slight shivering. "How about we go to the three broomsticks in order to get a butterbeer and talk about our traveling plans then.

Laughing Annie pulled her brother towards the crowded pub.

It was seven o'clock at night and the Gryffindor Common Room seemed to hold every single student of Gryffindor house. Annie was still happy from the day that she had spend with her big brother and was currently eating some of the sweets Michael had bought for her at Honeydukes. It was just harmless stuff, nothing that made your ears start smoking or cover you in red spots.

Basically it was just chocolate with a lot of different flavors, some of them just ordinary, others a bit extravagant like most things in the wizardring community. Annie had managed to score her favorite fluffy red chair and was reading one of her favorite books. She didn't remember when she had first read a Jane Austen novel, but she enjoyed them immensely, especially "Pride and Prejudice". She liked the heroine who was just as an outsider most of the time as Annie was. Therefore she could really side with her on most matters and it seemed that since the time the muggle author had lived the intelligence, especially of the male fraction of the world hadn't improved.

She still felt a bit drained from the constant mood changes she had endured during the last week and especially today but couldn't bother to get up. She kept reading while the Common Room slowly emptied but paid no attention to the people around her.

The marauders were sitting a few meters away from her, planning their new prank. Originally James and Annie had scheduled a study session that night but since Annie didn't seem to keen on it and seemed to be right at peace for the moment, James had turned to more important things (like torturing Snivellus). He wouldn't be the one to insist on those lessons and one night off would certainly do no harm to anyone. The four boys were engrossed in their planning but Sirius' mind was drifting off an awful lot today. He couldn't keep his eyes from wondering over to the petite brown haired girl who seemed to be so engrossed in her book, that she didn't notice the world around her. If this had been Remus sitting there it wouldn't really have surprised him, because one could easily catch Remus in a similar position with one of his school books in hand. With a smirk though, Sirius noticed that the book in the girl's hand wasn't study material but plainly a novel of some sort.

A kick against his shin, courtesy of James Potter, brought him back to the matters on hand.

"Oi Sirius!" James called him. "Where were you with your thoughts? We could really use your input here."

Sirius quickly checked the faces of his mates, praying that none of them had noticed his sudden change in interest. The small smile however that was playing around Remus' lips told him otherwise. He just sent him a pleading glance, not wanting to get into the things he currently had on his mind and Remus just gave a short nod. Unlike some of the guys, he did not have the emotional range of a teaspoon and knew that if Sirius was blanking out like that on them he had to have a lot on his mind. Sirius gave himself a mental shake and tried to concentrate on the plan that James' was currently describing to him.

It was after midnight and the Common Room was deserted. The only ones left were the marauders and Annie who had curled up in a ball and had fallen asleep about one hour ago. The guys were just getting ready to sneak out and set their plan in motion and were extremely careful not to wake her. The last time they were caught trying to sneak out by a girl, namely Lily Evans, the ensuing shouting match between her and James had not only woken the entire house but had also ensured them detention for a month with their head of house.

Therefore James couldn't help but let out a curse, when Wormtail tripped over a book that was lying around and slammed into one of the tables. The noise wasn't loud enough to carry up to the dormitories but it surely woke Annie who sat up yawing and blinking, still half asleep.

"What are doing?" she asked the four boys who were trying to look as innocent as possible.

"Nothing," James quickly said. "Go back to sleep."

"You're sneaking out." It wasn't a question just a statement. The looks on their faces told her she was right.

"So what are you going to do?" she asked wondering what kind of prank they could have planned this time.

James, Remus and Sirius looked at each other trying to decide what to tell her. They didn't want her go running to Professor McGonagall.

"We-ah" Remus stuttered, still not sure what to say."  
"We were going to play this really amazing prank on the Slytherins." Wormtail chimed in oblivious to the deathly glares he was receiving from his partners in crime.

James, Sirius and Remus flinched in anticipation of the screaming that was sure to come, but instead:

"Sure, have fun." Annie just curled back up.

The others stared at her unbelievingly.

"What?" she asked uncomfortably under their stares.

"That's it? No screaming or bitching?" James asked dumfounded.

"No, why? As long as your prank is funny and doesn't hurt anyone I don't see any harm in it." She said trying to find the comfortable position she had been in before?

"But – you" James seemed to have lost the ability to form complete sentences. "You're a girl, you're part of Lily's group, you…"

Under different circumstances these words would have ensured him a furious reply but Annie was a) too tired and b) too emotionally drained from everything that she merely said in a tired but disappointed tone:

"I already told you once that I am not Evans, neither am I in her "group". And now go off torture some Slytherins and let me sleep."

She turned away from them, hoping that they had received her message.

James, Peter and Remus exited the room quickly, Sirius remained in the portrait hole for another moment and regarded the girl in front of him carefully. She seemed close to falling back asleep again and it looked as if the conversation with James' hadn't bothered her the slightest. However remembering the tone she had used with him before, told him differently. He saw her shivering slightly and curling up tighter, so he conjured a blanket and carefully draped it over her. Annie already asleep just snuggled into it, which brought a smile to Sirius' face. With another look at her, he turned around and ran after the other boys, praying that he wouldn't be in for a questioning about what exactly had kept him. Because if he was honest with himself he couldn't really say.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N Right first of all let me apologize for the condition of the layout of my last chapter. I've got no clue whatsoever what went wrong and why it was underlined. Then on a brighter note I am so so so thankful for the wonderful reviews I got. Thanks guys you really made my day. I really enjoyed writing this chapter, even though it doesn't do much for the plot. I am sorry it's so short but I thought it would be better to update a shorter chapter as fast as possible then leaving you hanging. I still don't have a beta and since I am as annoyed as most people with a fanfiction full of language mistakes I would be soooooooo glad when one of you decided that he/she had the time to proofread my newest chappies. University is going to start again the day after tomorrow so I'll be busier than usual, but I promise to update asap, and you know guys, it is your reviews that really help me find the inspiration and motivation to find the time to write even when I am loaded with college assignments. So please please please…(add number of pleas-es here that it takes to get you to press this wonderful button and leave a review). So now: On with the story!!!!

Chapter 6

Sunday – normally Annie enjoyed Sundays, having a day off and nothing to worry about. Well at least not until nightfall. This was usually the time when she remembered that there were still a couple of essays to write for the next week. So you could say that Annie was a big fan of the concept of a free Sunday.

Today though when her inner clock woke her up exactly five in the morning she merely groaned and hid under her blanket. She always woke up at five no matter what time she went to bed the night before. Weirdly though her bed was feeling much smaller than she remembered it and when she wanted to turn around to at least try to get some more sleep, even though she knew that it was fruitless once she was awake, she suddenly fell off and landed ungracefully on her butt. When she opened her eyes she noticed that she hadn't been lying in her bed in her dorm but had spent the night in the common room. Right now she was sitting in her wrinkled yesterdays clothes, staring at the cold fireplace, still trying to figure out what exactly had happened last night. She remembered that she had been reading in the Common Room before falling asleep and suddenly being awoken by a crash. After a short discussion with James she had fallen back asleep. She stared at the blanket in her hand and wondered where it had come from. Taking a closer look she couldn't find the Hogwarts crest anywhere so she assumed that it had probably been conjured by someone. This thought made her smile, the only ones that had been down there last night were the marauders, so maybe this had been James' way of saying that he didn't really mean what he said.

Suddenly in a much better mood, Annie got up and ran quietly up to her dormitory. Taking the blanket with her. Maybe the tuition session tonight wouldn't be that bad after all.

When Annie entered the Great Hall at seven o'clock it didn't surprise her that it was still empty. There were only a handful of students sitting at each house table and the look on their faces told her that most of them were still half asleep. Annie though felt more or less awake and after she had taken a long shower she felt ready to face the day. Since the days were getting chillier now, the outdoors were only good for a limited amount of time, so spending the day at the lake wasn't really an option. While munching on her cereal she debated how on earth she could spend the day, tonight she was pretty sure she and James had to have that tutoring session they had skipped the night before. She and James – this thought made her smile. Even though Dumbledore's request had messed up quite a lot of things in her life she had to agree with her brother on one thing, talking to James was way better than merely watching him. Gosh, this made her sound like a stalker; even it was just in her head. Of course some stuff that had come out of the Gryffindor's star seaker's mouth had been pretty hurtful but most of the time it turned out that he didn't really mean what he said.

Annie froze. Maybe that was it. Part of the reason why Lily constantly bit James' head off was because he said the wrong things at the wrong time. Well maybe it wasn't always the wrong things but the way he said them as well. So all she needed to do was… yeah what was she going to do? She had to try to get some information out of him that night and maybe offer her assistance; all she could hope for was that he actually accepted her help.

Annie groaned in frustration. She was sitting in the library right now and the librarian looked ready to throw her out. She resisted the urge to throw the divination book into the wall next to her, well maybe throwing it at the stupid Slytherin girls next to her would be a better use of the otherwise useless textbook. Seriously why on earth was she taking this subject? And now she had to write a dream diary for all of last week, because she of course had forgotten about it. She didn't remember what she had dreamed exactly and even if she did she would rather die than write in a book for the whole world to read. She checked her watch, it was three o'clock in the afternoon and she had skipped lunch in order to get started on this stupid homework that of course was due the next day. Earlier when she had run into the marauders, again, James had told her to meet her in the Room of Requirements at eight, so she had five more hours to waste on Professor Augurie's homework. Honestly someone had to get this woman sacked soon, the stupid things that came out of that fraud's mouth were not only annoying but a complete waste of anyone's time.

She dropped her head in her hand, groaning again. Suddenly she heard a chair at her table scratch over the floor as if it was being pulled back and someone sat down opposite her. When Annie raised her head she was staring into the grey eyes of one Sirius Black.

"Hey," she greeted him surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey to you too," he answered with a grin. "I could ask you the same thing."

"Well," Annie said trying to hide her annoyance "I've been trying for hours to write this stupid dream diary for Augurie's class but…"

Sirius glanced around the tons of scrambled paper lying around Annie.

"No luck so far?" He guessed.

"Nope," Annie said darkly. "And she already doesn't like me."

"How come?" Sirius asked interestedly. As far as he knew most girls got along with most of the professors just fine, it was the guys who usually made problems.

"Well, you know how she is," Annie tried to explain. "Usually going on about when certain people are supposed to die, so one day I kind of got so annoyed that I was commentating the whole lesson under my breath. Turns out that not only does Augury has a wonderful hearing, even though she must be at least two hundred years old, no of course she was standing right behind me the whole time."

Sirius let out a bark-like laugh and the librarian send him a glare that would have sent others running. Annie grinned; this talking to other people and especially wasn't as bad as she had thought.

"So now you reckon she'll read out your diary next lesson?" Sirius asked in an amused tone.

"Exactly," Annie replied, her mood changing again for the worst when she thought about the next day.

Sirius seemed to notice and quickly asked, "Need any help with that?"

She threw him a confused glance. "What?"

"Well, obviously you don't want to write down you real dreams otherwise you would have been done ages ago, instead of sitting here and mulling things over. So I guess we just need to be creative and invent some really interesting dreams."

The look on his face told her that he already seemed to have some things in mind. She considered his offer for a moment, than gave him a bright smile.

"Sure let's get going."

It was six thirty when the two Gryffindors left the library, both of them still chuckling. They had been down with Annie's dream diary just after two hours, inventing the most horrible deaths a person could suffer, and spend the rest of the time talking much to the librarian's chagrin. Annie was surprised how easy it was to talk to Sirius. He was after all one of the two heads of the most prominent boy gang in all Hogwarts and had, just like James, the reputation of a ladies' man. Holding her side from all the laughing she had done during the last hours she said, still chuckling:

"So let me get this straight. After all the stunts you guys pulled you never once managed to set Peeves on Snape?"

Sirius face showed somewhat of a regretful grin.

"Nope, not yet at least," he admitted. "Actually we have this bet going: Whoever is going to succeed first can order one of the other guys around for a whole week."

Annie threw him a questioning glance. "And why would that be such a big deal?"

Sirius merely smirked. "Remember who you're talking to.

This only made Annie chuckle once more and she threw a glance at her watch.

"Wow, I didn't realize, it was getting so late." In her head, she frantically thought about all the stuff she needed to sort out before her meeting with James."

Sirius smiled at her, oblivious that her thoughts seemed to be far off. "Yeah time flies when you're having fun."

Annie nodded absentmindedly.

"So shall we go down to the Great Hall and catch a bite to eat?" Sirius asked still smiling slightly.

"Huh – oh Sirius, I am sorry but I really have to go, you know I have this tutoring session with James tonight and I still have so many things to do, you know get ready and…"

"I get it." Sirius interrupted her, the smile seemed to have vanished from his face in an instant, but Annie seemed to busy with her own thoughts to notice.

"So I'll see you around Sirius and thanks again." She walked away, leaving Sirius standing in the middle of the corridor, trying to make a list of the things she yet had to do.

"Yeah sure." Sirius said quietly, not sure if she had heard or even cared. "I'll see you"

On his way to the Great Hall he shot a curse at Snape who for once had been passing him without one of his snide comments.


	7. Chapter 7

Hi everybody!

I am sorry it took me a while to update, but here it is: The seventh chapter. Thanks so much for the reviews I got! They really make my day! And to all the people who haven't reviewed so far: PLEASE DO! It really helps me to come up with new ideas, so the faster you want an update the more reviews I'll need! And like always: I do not own Harry Potter even though I wish I would.

Enjoy!

Chapter 7

Sirius sat in the Great Hall, nibbling at his food and staring off into nothingness. People no matter what house they were in, kept their distance, puzzled by his behavior. Not only was it quite unusual for him to be sitting here alone without the rest of the group or at least James his best friend, nor had they ever seen him just nibbling on his foot. This was Sirius Black after all – the boy whose eating habits were nearly as famous as the rest of him.

Sirius though didn't even see the looks and glances he was getting, too lost in his own world. This afternoon had indeed been a lot of fun, a different kind of fun than he was used to. Talking to Annie was easy, normally he had to watch his mouth in order to impress the girls around him, his cocky behavior earning him extra points with most of them. Annie though was different, always had been. He had known her since their first year, not known her in the sense of actually knowing her, but knowing of her, more or less.

_It was their first night at Hogwarts. Sirius and the rest of the first years had just been picked up from the Hogwarts Express and brought up to the school by Hagrid. Sirius' mood wasn't the best, his train ride had sucked and judging from the looks most of his fellow students were giving him while they were waiting for McGonagall to call them in, the ensuing sorting would be just as funny. _

_Of course he knew what was about to happen in the Great Hall coming from a Pureblood family, hell he nearly knew most of Slytherin tower by heart, having had to listen to the stories of his parents and other pureblood relatives nearly every day. His family though had been the exact reason why nobody had even wanted to sit with him during the nearly eight hours train ride. He was sick of it all by now and sure that he was going to kill the next wanna-be-Slytherin who would approach him in order to extend his hand in friendship. Seriously they were all eleven years old not ministry employees – who talked like this at the age of eleven?_

_He groaned when McGonagall entered and told them to organize themselves in pairs and of course it was Lucius Malfoy who tried to take the spot beside him. Swiftly though a small girl with brown hair and black eyes stood beside him, grinning mischievously. _

"_You don't mind do you? I just thought, judging by your facial expression that you've suffered enough for today." She explained herself to the slightly dumfounded looking Sirius. When he didn't say anything but merely stared at her, she extended her hand._

"_Hi, I'm Annie Jordan!"_

_Sirius in the meantime had found his voice again and was giving her a thankful smile for rescuing him from the arrogant idiot._

"_Hi Annie" He shook her hand and took a deep breath being sure that his next words were going to send her running just like everyone else. "I'm Sirius Black."_

"_Nice to meet you Sirius." After a few seconds she let go of his hand, still smiling. _

"_So are you excited?"_

_Completely ignoring her question he began staring once more but then he quickly caught himself._

"_Sorry Annie, but you did hear who I am right?" he asked confused, sure that he must have missed something._

_Annie smirked. "Last time I checked my hearing was perfectly fine."_

"_But-you" he took another deep breath. "You know who the Blacks are? Is this some kind of practical joke?"_

_Annie was still looking at him with this smirk on her face. "Yes Sirius I know who the Blacks are and what kind of reputation your family has. And to answer your last question, let me ensure you that my practical jokes are much better than this."_

_Sirius still looked confused so she added with a smile. "Look, I don't care who you're family is, as far as I know blood doesn't mean everything if anything at all. So stop worrying alright?"_

"_Thanks Annie, this means a lot," the eleven-year-old boy had thankfully replied and continued to joke around with the girl until McGonagall told them to enter the Great Hall. _

And it had meant a lot to him, the sixteen year-old boy thought. It still did. Annie had been the first person who had talked to him when nobody else bothered to see past his family name. Annie had been giving him encouraging words all night long and had literally saved his life this night. He had been one of the first students to be sorted and when he had been sorted into Gryffindor he could hear her cheering the loudest, when all others were still gaping at him like fish out of the water. But what had happened then? How come that after all this and sharing the same house they didn't become close friends? The marauders had happened.

Right after he was sorted everybody else seemed to forget that they wouldn't even look at him mere minutes before. After Annie was sorted, two of her older siblings who were Gryffindor and Ravenclaw seventh years at Hogwarts called her over to congratulate her, so when she returned in order to sit with him he already was surrounded by James, Remus and Peter, talking, making friends and already scheming all the mischief they wanted to create. Annie had just sat down with a few other fellow first year girls and after that night the two just didn't talk anymore. It wasn't that they suddenly hated each other, Sirius was just so happy about the fact that he had finally made friends who weren't hung up on all this pureblood nonsense that the thought of the small brown haired girl was pushed to the back of his mind and slowly faded. Of course he had never completely forgotten her and had recognized her whenever he saw her, but he never found the courage to go and talk to her again – thinking that maybe she was still mad at him or that she just moved on.

Now though when she had been pushed back in his life indirectly by Dumbledore's order for James to tutor her and he had noticed how easy it still was to talk to her, he wondered what he had missed the last years. She had grown up, so much was for sure, a feat he hadn't accomplished yet and wasn't sure if he ever would. But she had also changed a lot. She seemed shy and drawn back into herself most of the time, this afternoon though he had gotten a glimpse at the girl she truly was, the girl he had met over five years ago. What could have happened to someone to change her that much? Sirius was curious but at the same time he felt the urgent need to repay Annie for the things she had done for him at their first meeting.

Annie was stressed out. Of course thanks to Sirius she had actually managed to finish her divination homework but maybe she should have accepted his offer to get something to eat. Her stomach was growling after she had skipped lunch and dinner now. She shrugged it off, she couldn't help it right now and it was half past seven so she'd better make her way to the Room of Requirements. When she tried to walk through the portrait hole she promptly bumped into someone.

"Sorry I didn't see y- "she froze when she realized who she had run into.

"It's ok, Annie" James said friendly. "So you're ready for another hour of me torturing you?"

Annie swallowed and when she opened her mouth to speak her stomach gave a loud rumble, which made James chuckle.

"You've eaten anything today?" Annie just blushed and shook her head.

"No," she finally brought out, "I was too busy." She mentally kicked herself, repeating over and over that she had to act normal otherwise James would catch on her – whatever it was.

"So shall we make a little visit to the house-elves before we start working? I've heard you know your way around, especially the way to the kitchen." He winked at her and she couldn't help but giggle a bit.

"OK, since you offered so nicely." She had finally found the ability again to form complete sentences.

James gave her a mock bow and the two of them walked towards the kitchens, James telling her what he had planned for the day.

They were in the Room of Requirement now, having finished practicing for today. James had decided to let her practice the different jinxes and curses on a puppet first, so this had gone relatively well. While Annie was nibbling on a midnight snack, a sandwich that was a leftover from the dinner the two had brought James was staring into the flames of a fireplace, seemingly lost in thought. Annie took a deep breath; it was now or never,

"James?" she asked. "Are you alright?"

James eyes refocused on her and he gave her a light smile.

"Sure, why shouldn't I be?" He sounded casually but a look in his eyes told her that something was bothering him. She knew though that it wasn't her place too intrude; on the other hand she had to get him to trust her somehow.

She stood up, walking towards the door but then turned around again.

"Listen James, I know that tutoring me is surely not how you want to spend your evenings." She began but was promptly interrupted by James' whose voice sounded a bit irritated now.

"I already told you I don't mind."

"No," she said quickly. "I just wanted to say that maybe I could help you out with something…"

She left the proposition hanging in the air but wasn't prepared for the snort of amusement that came from the boy opposite her.

"You help me out – how?" Annie was not quite sure if he had meant to sound this arrogant right then but she just mentally counted to ten before answering him.

"Well, I thought since I am in Eva- in Lily's dorm, I could try to talk to her."

James' face switched from arrogance to confusion to pure happiness in less than three seconds.

"You would do that?" he asked, thinking that maybe he had underestimated this girl.

"Sure. I don't really mind," she tried to come off as nonchalantly as possible. James seemed to buy it.

She walked towards the door, feeling proud of herself that she had done so well on this difficult task.

"Annie?" he called her back, when she just wanted to leave.

She turned around questioningly.

"Thanks" he said, sounding as if he really meant it.

"You're welcome," Annie said trying to ignore the aching feeling in her chest. "Just do us all a favour?"

James nodded.

"Be nice and please whatever you do, don't ask her out." With that said she walked out leaving a thoughtful James Potter in her wake.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N

Hi everybody!

I am really sorry but I am in the middle of exams right now. Writing this fanfiction is such a great but also a very demanding thing to do. I spent the last couple of weeks, trying to come up with a storyline that would do this story justice and I think I finally found one. I would be really happy about constructive criticism since that is the only way I can improve. I'll try to update asap, but I won't be able to continue writing until after this Friday since this is the day when I have to sit this really important (and scary) maths exam. Please excuse any language mistakes you might find and remember that English is not my first language!

Enjoy and PLEASE review to let me know if anyone is still reading this story!

Cheers

Prongs

Chapter 8

It had been two weeks since the night when Annie had told James that she would go and talk to Lily for him. Two weeks – and she hadn't done anything of this sort yet. It wasn't just her personal reluctance that was keeping her back, more so she felt at an absolute loss about what to say to Lily. The tutoring sessions had gone uneventful as well and even though it felt hard to admit, James training sessions actually started to do something for Annie's poor dueling abilities. She was far from perfect yet, mind you, but at least she was successfully blocking minor hexes now and if she was honest with herself she felt a little bit proud of that. Annie had spent the last two weeks trying to come up with a game plan. So far she had only realized that no matter what she was going to do, she better had to do it quick, Halloween was more or less right around the corner, and she needed to get a better insight perspective of the two people she was trying to get together. Therefore she would have to do the one thing she had been trying to avoid so far: Getting closer to the two of them. Her earlier avoidance of a friendship with James and Lily had been out of different and at the same time quite similar reasons: James for one, she had never dared to approach and when she had been forced to by Dumbledore, she had always managed to make herself look like a complete idiot. Lily on the other hand had never quite been on her wavelength. Michael had once jokingly said that this maybe was because Annie had never been acting very lady-like, much to her mother's and her older sister's dismay. Who cared about Witch Weekly or the newest fashion when the newest Cleensweap or Nimbus was just on display in the Quality of Quidditch Store?

Annie had never been a great but a decent enough flyer. She liked it because it usually helped her taking her mind off things. She wasn't flying the newest model, she had grown quite fond of the Comet, which she had gotten to her birthday two years ago, and even though Michael had offered to get her a newer broom, she had declined. She didn't need to fly through the air at a neck breaking speed, just being up in the air usually helped her to clear her mind.

Right now though she wasn't flying in order to distract herself, but to ponder what had happened during the last weeks and trying to decide what she was going to do next. If she wanted to get closer to James (and Lily) there was no other way but starting to hang at least with one of them. The decision wasn't a very tough one to make since Annie had just caught the girls this morning giggling about the new Quidditch Star of the English national team. Annie couldn't help but groan, knowing that the sport was one of the last reasons the girls were into this Leo What's-his-face.

She was circling the hoops now, willing her broom to go as fast as possible. Her unwillingness to discuss make-up and Quidditch stars for the next several weeks left her with the harder and at the same time maybe more enjoyable option: Trying to get an inside view of the most infamous prankster group Hogwarts had ever seen. She dived towards the ground but pulling out of it a few meters before the ground, as much as she enjoyed flying, her diving technique definitely needed improving. She couldn't help but smirk when she thought that an overprotective family might be a very good reason for her lack of practice when it came to trying out dangerous moves.

She was back to circling the hoops once more, still trying to figure out her next move. She had to go and talk to one of the boys, maybe she would be able to get some information out one of them and tonight during her next tutoring session she would have to start the operation Lily-James.

Happy that she had finally come to a decision on what to do next she took in her surroundings for the first time. It was another quiet Sunday and the Hogwarts grounds seemed deserted.

The giant squid was lazily swimming around on the surface of the lake. Annie briefly wondered if it never got cold, after all it was already the middle of October, but then her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the view of a boy that was sitting in one of the Quidditch stands watching her. Annie did a double take, she hadn't seen him before and was quietly wondering how long Sirius Black had been sitting there without making so much as a noise.

She steered her broom towards him and landed right in front of the black haired boy.

"Hi!" she greeted him, still a questioning look on her face. "What are you doing here?"

"Hello to you too." Sirius stood up and gave her a mock-bow. Annie merely rolled her eyes.

"Sirius?" she interrupted his antics. It wasn't that she really minded him kidding around with her. In truth she felt quite at ease talking to him and right now she was merely curious what on earth might have possessed him to sit out in the Quidditch stands all by himself.

"Shouldn't you be somewhere up there" she pointed towards the castle "exploding a toilet or something?"

An emotion flickered on Sirius' face but it was gone again before Annie had the chance to think about what it might have meant. Then his face broke into an enormous grin.

"This isn't such a bad idea, actually. I should mention it to the guys when I get back." Annie cleared her throat in order to wake him from his daydreaming, throwing him another questioning glance, but before she could ask once more about his presence at the Quidditch stadium on a Sunday, he began to speak once more.

"I came here to think" he admitted quietly but couldn't help but snort at the incredulous look on the girl's face when she sat down beside him "Yes, even I sometimes need to get away for awhile to be by myself. Most of the time I come here when I am trying to figure some things out." The last part had nearly come out as a whisper and Annie wasn't sure if she was supposed to have heard it, before she could even open her mouth though to ask another question, Sirius was speaking again.

"So what are you doing here… flying?" He asked her with a raised eyebrow. Annie didn't miss the implied "on your own" but chose to ignore it.

"I just needed to get into the air again, it had been ages since I went flying, last school year actually…" she replied shrugging.

"Why didn't you ever try out for the Quidditch team?" Sirius asked, his voice sounding honestly curious. "You are really not that shabby on a broom."

"Thanks, I think" she gave a quick laugh but then grew silent once more as if pondering the question for the first time. And really it had been a long time since she had last thought about it. The words were flying out of her mouth before she could stop them and only when they were spoken out loud, she realized that they were true.

"I don't know really." She admitted. "When I started school I really wanted to tryout I guess, but you know the rules: First years aren't admitted a broom. I did fine at flying lessons I guess, it wasn't my first time on a broom after all."

"How come?" Sirius asked grinning, already expecting where this was going.

"Let's just say, I have three older siblings and the shed in which they used to keep their brooms wasn't usually locked."

Sirius chuckled and Annie continued speaking, absentmindedly playing with the bristles of her broom.

"So the tryout during first year where out of the question and after that…I don't know. I guess it didn't seem so important anymore…" her voice grew quieter and finally drifted off. She knew that it wasn't Quidditch, which had lost its importance at this time, but somehow she had lacked the drive and willingness to enter into the tryouts. She also didn't know anyone in the team at this time and she just didn't feel like putting herself in the spotlight.

When she looked up at Sirius' face again, she felt a bit startled by the understanding look on his face. Quickly, she drew her eyes away from his' again and stood up.

She swallowed and said a bit more loudly than necessary:

"I'll head back up to the castle. I want to grab some dinner, before I meet James."

Sirius curtly nodded his head and stood up as well. The intimate atmosphere from before gone for good now.

"I'll come too. I am starved, I didn't know that thinking could be this exhausting." He gave her a lopsided grin.

Annie walked a few meters ahead and then turned round again.

"You should try thinking more often, Sirius. It should get easier with practice." She laughed and started to sprint towards the castle, with Sirius on her heels.

When Annie entered the Room of Requirements later this night, James wasn't there yet. She sighed and sat down in her favorite chair, already feeling bored with herself. She wished longingly for her favorite Jane Austen novel, which she knew was lying on her bedside table right now. She just wanted to get her mind off things for a while. Flying this day had indeed been fun but Sirius' did have a point about the fact that thinking could be exhausting, not exhausting really but Annie just wanted to think of something else for a while.

With a little start she realized that a copy of "Pride and Prejudice" had suddenly materialized on the tea-table next to her out of thin air. She grinned delighted and turned to the part of the book where she had stopped reading the night before.

When the door opened Annie was pulled out of her fantasies and checked her watch. It was half an hour after their original meeting time.

When she saw James' face however, all thoughts of reprimanding him for his tardiness were gone in an instance (She doubted anyhow if she had had the guts to do it in the first place.)

James' hair seemed even more disheveled than usual. Annie couldn't read the look on his face; he seemed somewhat angry and sad at the same time and let himself drop heavily in the armchair opposite her.

"I'm sorry I'm late." He told her nonchalantly and Annie didn't quite know what to make of this half-hearted apology. She chose to ignore it her curiosity peeked now.

"What happened, James?" She asked carefully.

He threw her a pondering glance, as if trying to figure out if he should answer her but finally he did.

"Lily Evans happened" he stated calmly, his voice now void of all emotion but Annie had the feeling that this was merely the start of it.

"What do you mean Lily happened? What did you say to her?"

He threw her an annoyed glance.

"How come that you automatically assume that I had something to do with her …" he obviously was at a loss of words but finally added "behavior"

Annie merely looked at him and James couldn't help but grin slightly self-conscious.

"Alright." He raised his hands in a gesture of defeat. "I asked her out."

Annie groaned and opened her mouth to say something, but James suddenly snapped:

"I know you told me not to ask her out, but you also said you'd help and since you didn't I tried to do it my way again…

Annie had to bite her cheek in order to not give him a sarcastic reply along the lines of "Since your approach has worked so well for the last six years." She didn't voice it though. She was still having trouble enough keeping a decent conversation with him going as it was, and she simply lacked the boldness to speak her mind just like she wished to. Instead she replied quietly:

"I actually wanted to talk to you about this today…"

James who had still been slightly scowling at her, was suddenly sitting on the edge of his seat and Annie couldn't help but chuckle slightly at the sight. Right now James looked like some overenthusiastic first-year, not like the Gryffindor Star Seeker he was. The reminder of whom she was talking to quickly sobered her up again and Annie chose her next words carefully.

"Without knowing what exactly happened tonight but also knowing how your usual encounters with Lily usually go, I would say you should start by apologizing."

Before she could continue speaking there was a loud unbelievingly snort and James answered, in a voice that sounded much too arrogant for Annie's liking:

"Apologize? Whatever for?

Maybe for behaving like an absolute git? But again she didn't voice this though but calmly replied:

"Lily Evans is an exceptionally proud girl and I rather reckon she doesn't like to be handled like one of your trophies…" Oops. Where had this just come from? She hadn't meant be this direct, but she also refused to take her words back now. If James seriously wanted a shot with Lily he needed to stop behaving like a five year old in her presence. Again a thought she would never willingly speak out loud.

James was gaping at her like a fish out of the water and Annie used his stunned silence in order to explain herself.

"What I mean" she said calmly "is that you should go and try to have a normal conversation with her, nothing big. Just try to get through a civil conversation with her for once."

"And why should I apologize" he asked slightly pouting and Annie could't quite decide if she found it endearing or annoying right then.

"Because" she explained to him in a tone of voice as if she was just telling him that magic really existed. "She will not even as much as look at you if you won't at least try to correct your mistakes from this afternoon.

She could literally watch James deflate right in front of her eyes. Finally he gave her a thoughtful glance.

"Maybe I should give it a try."

"Maybe you should", she tried to sound as encouragingly as possible, beating down the feelings of jealousy again which she hadn't really noticed until now. It just hit her what she had advised James' to do and in a sense this had been a step into the right and the wrong direction at the same time.

'One good thing came out of this talk however.' She thought to herself. For once she hadn't embarrassed herself in an interaction with James, even if it was just a conversation.

James threw her another calculating glance and then stood up and extended his hand in order to pull Annie up as well.

"Let's start practicing then, shall we?" He asked with a bright smile and Annie's knees felt weak again but she merely nodded and walked with him to the practice area of the room. It looked as if the embarrassment-free part of the evening was over and Annie just hoped that she would be able to keep the disgrace to a minimum this night.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N **

**Ok, so the most important things first: THANK YOU SO MUCH! I loved the reviews and I cannot believe that I am on some people's story alerts. Out of yoy I've written the longest chapter I've ever written so far. I know it's far from perfect but I tried hard and even though I am not completely satisfied yet I'll post it because you guys really deserved a longer and quicker update than usual. You realize what that means right? The happier you make me by reviewing (this also includes constructive criticism) the faster and longer the updates will become!**

**Luv  
Prongs**

Chapter 9

The next day started uneventful enough. Annie used her spare time between waking up and breakfast to finish some last minute homework for the day, which she had skipped the night before in favor of flying and "tutoring" time. Thankfully there wasn't much she had to finish and since her Potion class wasn't about to begin for another three-quarter of an hour she lazily walked down to the Great Hall in order to catch a spot of breakfast. She sat down a few seats away from the marauders who were already in deep discussion. At least three of them were. Peter Pettigrew was stuffing his face while Sirius was talking to a slightly green looking James Potter and Remus seemed to be listening intently.

Annie started to prepare her usual breakfast of toast with jam. When she reached for the pumpkin juice she couldn't help but throw another glance at the four boys and she was startled to find that Remus as well seemed to be comforting James now, that was at least what she gathered from seeing the brown haired boy talking seriously with him and Sirius patting his back.

Annie frowned when she looked away again. Had she missed something? Apart from his little tantrum James Potter had thrown the night before he had seemed all right. Lily hadn't mentioned anything this morning either and Annie was pretty sure that in case there had been any interaction between these two she would have surely heard about it in her dormitory. No, this had to be something else.

Suddenly a thought crossed Annie's mind and she couldn't help but grin. Was James Potter, star seeker of Gryffindor and one of the most wanted teenage-boys actually suffering nerves?

When Remus' voice floated over to her, she found her suspicions confirmed.

"Don't worry Prongs. She will not bite your head of. This game plan of yours sounds like the first sensible one you've ever had."

His voice became quieter again and Annie could hear no more. She didn't need to. She was quietly chuckling into her cup, not daring to throw another glance at the marauders.

She only hoped that her advise was not going to backfire, otherwise she was pretty sure she would never hear the end of it. On the other hand, how hard could it be to offer a heartfelt apology? She was going to find out.

The first period of the day was Potions. Slughorn seemed to have either gotten over the fact that she had skipped his period a while ago (after all she had suffered through his detentions) or he had merely forgotten about it, since she wasn't in his very special "Slug-Club". This was one fact however she was not sorry about in the slightest, it was hard enough to stay awake during his classes as it was, she could imagine more enjoyable ways to spend her free-time. They were working on Felix Felicitis this day, a potion designed to enable the drinker to enjoy an unusually intense streak of luck. Annie found the potion was not too hard to brew, even though it required the potions maker's full attention. Therefore it took Annie a while to place the constant mumbling that was rapidly growing louder. It seemed as if Remus, Sirius and James were in a discussion that was slowly developing into a fight.

"You cannot be serious Prongs!" Sirius scoffed. "You cannot do this here. Everybody will hear."

"So what!" James hissed back. "Let them hear, I don't care!"

Annie's heart dropped several inches. She was inwardly praying to every higher might there was that she was not hearing the things she was.

"James, I agree with Padfoot." Remus chimed in, quietly trying to reason with the black haired, bespectacled boy, who looked as if he had already made up his mind.

"Please, at least wait until the lesson is over." James seemed to look at his friends, pondering what he had just heard and finally he agreed.

Annie let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. Remus and Sirius had literally saved the day and James' head as well as it seemed. She could have just imagined what would have happened if James had talked to Lily in front of the whole potion class. Not only would Lily have felt embarrassed but Annie also seriously doubted that James would have managed a truly-meant apology. Annie thought he would have enough problems as it was without a professor and the rest of the Gryffindor and Slytherin Sixth years listening in.

She carefully stirred the potion as instructed. Thankfully the lesson was soon over and most students left quickly. Annie heard Slughorn tell Lily Evans to stay behind because he had to talk to her and automatically her glance wondered over to James who had apparently heard his teacher's request and was now slowing down his packing as well.

Annie left the classroom and ran straight into Sirius and Remus who were waiting outside for their friend.

"Hey," Annie greeted. "What are you still doing here?"

"Hi," Remus replied and Sirius gave her a friendly smile. "We were just waiting for James."

Annie who knew what James was obviously planning after Slughorn had finished talking to Lily, shuffled her feet uncomfortably.

"Ehm- Maybe you should meet him in at your next class. I don't reckon he wants to be overheard."

Remus and Sirius threw her a questioning look.

"How do you know what James is going to do?" Sirius asked curiously.

"Eh- I don't" Annie stammered. Great, she couldn't afford to be caught by the marauders, especially not by the two rather observant ones.

"I just though that if James is staying behind there has to be something personal he wants to talk about – I didn't mean..."

She was saved by James, who had just left the classroom. When he saw them, he stopped-dead in his tracks and merely stared at them.

"What are you doing here?" he asked dumbfounded and Annie just knew that at least Remus had to be doing the mental maths right now and figure out that something was up.

"We were just waiting for you, mate." Sirius asked suspiciously. "You know like we always have done for the last six years.

"Oh yeah." James said absentmindedly. Annie had moved behind the boys and was trying to steal away without attracting attention. But too late, James had already spotted her.

He didn't seem at all surprised to see her there.

"Hey Annie! Wait up!" His call made her freeze in mid-step. Why was it that the one time she wanted to be invisible to her surroundings, she wasn't? Slowly she turned around, a fake smile on her lips, trying to ignore Remus and Sirius whose inquisitive glances seemed to be boring into her. James who must have been feeling their looks in his back, quickly turned around to face them.

"Listen guys. Why don't you meet me at Defence? I just need to go over a few lesson plans with Jordan for tonight."

The looks on Remus' and Sirius'faces told Annie that they hadn't bought James lie and if she was honest, she couldn't blame them. The two of them nodded and without another word they turned around and left. Annie was just starting to wonder if they were mad when James addressed her again. His voice that had been calm when he had addressed his friends was nearly panic-stricken now.

"Annie I can't do that." James voice didn't hold any of his trademark confidence or arrogance.

"What do you mean, you can't do that? You've been doing Defence against the Dark Arts for years. You're tutoring me for god's sake."

James had started pacing. "Not this" he pointed to the staircase where Sirius and Remus had disappeared towards the DADA classroom. "This" He was pointing at the door to the potions classroom which Annie knew to be containing Lily and Slughorn right now. Coming to think of it, Lily was bound to exit the classroom very soon, so James' had better get a grip on his nerves.

Annie knew she had two choices now, she could either help James make a good impression for once or walk away and hope that he was going to mess up badly. But who was she kidding? She didn't have it in her to leave a panic-stricken looking boy alone in the hallway, not if she could help. She knew that she couldn't force her own feelings on him, so all she had to offer was her friendship right now and that was exactly what she was going to do.

Annie took a deep breath, walked up to James and stood right in front of him in order to force him to stop pacing.

"James!" she grabbed his shoulders and James looked at her surprised and if Annie wasn't quite mistaken a little hopefully.

"Listen to me. You will do fine!" she said with as much sincerity as she could muster.

"How do you know?" James asked doubtfully.

"Because I do" She steadily held his gaze and continued speaking. "Just act normal? Talk to her as if you would be talking to Sirius and Remus.

"I am not interested in Sirius and Remus in such a way." Even though James looked nervous he hadn't lost his quick wit. Annie couldn't help but smile.

"Ok, other guys might not be the image you wanna have in your head while talking to Lily." Suddenly an idea came to her. "Talk to her as if you would be talking to me."

"But I am not interested in you either." Ouch – Annie hoped that the pain that this sentence had caused wasn't visible on her face. Maybe she had thought along the same lines earlier but this didn't make it any less painful when James said it out loud.

James seemed oblivious however, caught up in his own thoughts.

"Exactly," Annie pressed on, willing her voice to sound normal. "You're not interested in me, that means we two usually manage to get along ok, don't we?" Annie ignored all the embarrassing memories that had just shot into her head.

"Yeah" James said unsurely.

"You need to act as if you don't have feelings for her, talk to her as if you were just friends nothing more." Annie couldn't help but notice how well this explanation fitted to both their situations but she kept her mouth shut. She let her arms drop to her sides, stepped back a few feet and watched while James was carefully pondering her words.

After a moment he looked back up into her eyes.

"And you are sure that this will work?" His voice sounded a lot more like his old self.

"As sure as I will ever be." Annie offered quietly.

"Ok," James let out a deep breath. "I'll try."

Annie turned around to leave. " Good luck! I'll see you tonight."

"Thanks" James muttered and turned towards the door of the classroom, waiting for Lily to appear.

Annie had nearly reached the staircase when she heard the loud creak of the classroom door and before she had realized what she was doing she had dived into a dark corner a few feet away from the staircase and the corridor in which she had just been talking to James.

She couldn't see him or Lily but she didn't have any problems hearing what they were saying.

"Potter" Lily's voice sounded cold and Annie couldn't help but wince. This surely wasn't the best way to start this conversation.

"Hi Lily," James' voice was the complete opposite. The boy who usually seemed so full of himself when talking to Lily Evans sounded friendly and Annie couldn't help but smile when she noticed that he sounded nothing like he usually did when he was trying to impress the girl standing opposite him.

Lily too seemed to have noticed the change in his demeanor because when she spoke next she didn't sound nearly half as cold as she had done before. If Annie wasn't much mistaken she could detect confusion in the other girl's voice.

"What do you want? And I warn you if this is some sort of practical joke…" She trailed off.

There was no sound whatsoever for a few seconds than she could hear James' voice who had seemed to have lost much of his confidence again but nonetheless continued speaking.

"I am sorry" he admitted quietly.

"What did you just say?" Lily sounded absolutely baffled.

"I said, I am sorry." His voice had gotten louder and more secure. "I didn't mean to annoy you last time we spoke."

"You didn't?" If Annie wasn't much mistaken she could have sworn that Lily had just sounded mildy amused. James must have picked up on her tone of voice as well because his voice was growing steadier with every word he spoke.

"Well maybe I did, a little bit." Annie could hear the smile in his voice. "But I was honestly wondering about what was bothering you. Apart from me."

His voice sounded sincere and for a moment Annie couldn't help but feel a little bit proud of the way he was handling thinks. It seemed as if for once, someone was actually listening to the things she was saying. However when his last words really registered in head, Annie's heartbeat quickened and she clenched her fists. Lily had been mad last time the James and she "spoke" because Annie had blown her off the night before. Of course they had made up in the meantime but Annie didn't want to know what would happen if James found out that it was kind of her fault that Lily had blown up on him.

"It was nothing – just a spot of trouble among the girls. Nothing serious." Annie relaxed again, she was going to treat Lily to a butterbeer on the next trip to Hogsmeade.

"Alright." James didn't seem to be completely satisfied, but he didn't press it. "Do you accept my apology? Are we good?"

"Yes I do." Lily sounded somewhat pleased and Annie didn't quite know how to feel about it.

She could hear footsteps coming towards the staircase and Lily stopped right next to her hiding place so for the first time Annie could see her face.

Lily was smiling. "Yes we're good James." And with that she left a stunned James and an equally stunned Annie behind.

When Annie was sure that James had left as well she slowly made her own way to the Defence classroom. She knew that she was going to be late but she just couldn't make herself to walk any faster. She was confused. How on earth did Lily Evans and James Potter go from hardly being able to be in the same room to having a decent conversation right in her earshot? What had happened? Well, she happened. She and Dumbledore's order. Dumbledore!

Hadn't the headmaster said that he wanted a regular update? She checked her watch. She was already fifteen minutes late to her next class but maybe if she went to see Dumbledore now, she would have a good excuse for not turning up. If Annie was sure of anything, she was positive that the last thing she wanted to see right now was James' goofy smile or him looking like a love-sick puppy.

She turned around and quickly walked towards the Headmaster's office, praying that he would be inside and not off on some other business. And as it turned out she was in luck. She stood in front of the gargoyles and just wanted to call out the password when the door to the staircase opened on its own accord. However it was not Professor Dumbledore who stepped out but Professor McGonagall. Annie winced. She knew what the professor thought about skipping classes but there was no turning back now.

"Hello Professor." Annie greeted the surprised looking woman.

"Hello Miss Jordan. What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in class right now?" Her voice sounded stern confirming Annie's suspicion about her opinions on not attending classes.

"Technically yes" Annie said and Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow.

"Technically?" Her voice sounded even sterner, Annie gave herself a mental slap she knew Professor McGonagall wasn't known for her endless patience.

She quickly tried to explain her absence at Defence.

"I am here to see Professor Dumbledore."

McGonagall's voice seemed to soften a bit.

"Is he awaiting you?"

"Yes!" Annie hoped that her uncertainty hadn't been showing in her voice but when the professor stood aside to let her pass, she knew that it had worked.

"Good day Miss Jordan."

"Good day Professor."

Before Annie could knock she could already hear the headmaster's voice calling out to her from the inside of the office.

"Come in Miss Jordan!"

Annie wondering how in Merlin's name he was doing this, entered.

"Hello Professor." She stood in the doorway, not sure if she should go in any further or remain where she was right now. Somehow Professor Dumbledore had a rather intimidating effect on her, an effect she had completely ignored the last time she was here: First out of worry for her family than out of worry for her mental health.

Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk and had obviously just been busy with some papers that were scattered in front of him. When he noticed her glance, he beckoned her closer.

"Sit down, Annie. I believe there has to be something you want to tell me. But where are my manners?! Would you care for a lemon drop?"

Annie, who in the meantime had moved towards him and was just sitting down on the chair he had offered her, politely declined.

"You said you wanted a regular update on my 'task'." Annie explained her presence in the office and when met Dumbledore's imploring gaze, she could see a cheery twinkle appear in there.

"So you made progress?" Annie was just about to happily agree when Dumbledore continued speaking. "Such a great progress that you had to come to see me during class time?" Dumbledore asked and even though Annie heard the reprimanding in his voice, he also sounded lightly amused.

Annie feverishly tried to find something to say but Dumbledore merely raised his hand, indicating that he wasn't expecting any kind of apology or explanation.

"It is alright Annie." He said understandingly. "I know that I've asked a lot of you but your studies shouldn't suffer from the task I've assigned you. After all you've got enough on your mind with the "tutoring sessions" I've already arranged, have you not?"

Annie merely nodded. When he started talking about her missing classes she would have thought that he'd give her detentions, take away her permission to go to Hogsmeade or something similar.

She could feel a rush of gratitude and at the same time a wave of embarrassment and guilt flow through her. She had thought that Dumbledore had never really noticed or just ignored the position he had put her in but his kind words made her realize that she had clearly underestimated the headmaster. Maybe he knew more than she had given him credit for. On the other hand she also knew that she wasn't exactly doing what Dumbledore had asked her to. Of course she had helped James today to get through a decent conversation with Lily but deep inside she knew that she easily could have done much more if it wasn't for her own personal reluctance. Dumbledore's next words pulled her from her own confusing thoughts.

"Tell me Miss Jordan, what have you accomplished so far?"

Annie swallowed trying to ban the guilty feelings she harbored from her mind and started to speak.

"Well I have watched Lily and James for some time and I managed to talk James into letting me help him."

Dumbledore's twinkle seemed to grow stronger, which encouraged Annie and she continued.

"And today they finally got along for the first time." Suddenly this achievement, which she had thought to be so grand and important before, sounded quite unimportant to her. Suddenly she found a great interest in her shoes (which really needed a good cleaning charm again). Once more she was hit by the thought that she could have done so much more if she had tried harder in the first place but when she looked back up at Dumbledore's face again she was surprised to find him smiling at her.

"That sounds wonderful indeed, Miss Jordan. I am glad that you're making progress."

"Thank you sir."

At this moment Annie made a decision and a silent promise to herself and the headmaster.

She was going to work harder for Dumbledore's goals from now on. She knew that the headmaster was one of the greatest wizards in history and if he needed to get James Potter and Lily Evans together she was going to do all that she could to accomplish this. No matter at what costs, maybe even at the costs of her own happiness.

This night she felt exited to get to the Room of Requirements. She expected James to be in a good mood but when she entered the room she was still quite surprised when she was nearly knocked of her feet by James who had ran up to her and suddenly hugged her.

She got the first doubts about the promise she had made this morning at the headmaster's office. But since Annie had never been a girl to easily break a seriously meant promise, she got a grip on the butterflies that were causing havoc in her stomach and carefully freed herself of James. She walked over to the fluffy chairs and sank down in one of them. This hug had unsettled her quite a bit and she had to take a few deep breaths to recover control of her body, mind and voice. When she did, she turned to James who had sat down in the chair opposite her with an enormous grin on his face and just then Annie noticed that he was talking to her and with a conscious effort she tuned him in.

"…so thankful Annie! I cannot believe it actually worked. Thank you so much,"

She gave him a friendly smile.

"I was just glad I could help." She said quietly and was surprised to find that she actually meant it. It was true, she wanted James happy…

"You did, you have no idea how much." James was slowly calming down and now sat in his chair much more relaxed than he had before. Annie regarded him carefully. The light in the room was dim, causing a quite comfortable atmosphere for talking. If James or she had unconsciously asked for it Annie couldn't tell. The room itself had gotten a much more homey felling, not that it had looked uncomfortable to begin with. It seemed as if the time James and Annie had spent in here made it easier for the Room of Requirements to pick up on their thoughts and wishes, no matter if conscious or unconscious ones. The two big red fluffy chairs were standing in front of the lightened fireplace. After all it was already the middle of October and the days were getting cooler. Also the ground of their practicing space was softer than the rest of the floor. This didn't surprise Annie since this night they were due to have their first real practice duel since the catastrophic one at their first lesson. The walls had also supplied pictures of James' and Annie's favorite Quidditch teams. Whereas there were the Holyhead Harpies for Annie (she had been a fan of them even before she was able to pronounce their name) there was the English national team for James. Annie had just noticed this for the first time and it surprised her. National games didn't take place half as often as regional ones and as far as she "knew" James, she would have guessed that he went to Quidditch games during the holidays every other day and therefore had to be fan of some regional team. She decided to ask him directly.

"Hey James? Why are their only pictures of our national team on the wall? Don't you like any regional ones like Puddlemere United, or the Holyheads?"

When she mentioned the Holyheads she heard James chuckle.

"What are you laughing about?" she asked him puzzled.

"Nothing", James said still grinning but then admitted: "Only that they are an all-girls team."

Annie glowered at him laughingly. "Girls can play Quidditch."

"Of course they can." James replied and Annie noticed that he had a hard time keeping a serious face.

"They are among the top five of the league."

"Miracles happen occasionally." Annie leaned back in her chair, mock-pouting and James started to laugh. After a few seconds Annie couldn't help but join in as well and soon there were two hysterically laughing Gryffindors in the Room of Requirements. After a few minutes Annie finally managed to sober up and asked James to start practicing.

James looked at her curiously. "You want to start practicing? Are you serious?

"No I am not, but…" James groaned and chuckled at the same time.

"This joke is so first year."

"Too bad I wasn't there when it got old." This sentence put an end to the care-free atmosphere but Annie unwilling to go into it merely shrugged and stood up.  
"Coming?" she asked over her shoulder.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: So here it is: The next chapter. I can't believe that this is already chapter 10 but then on the other hand writing this story is becoming easier with time. I really hope that all of you are going to enjoy reading this chappy as much as I enjoyed writing it, Please do leave a review because they are really helping me improve my writing style. I have to apologize in advance in case the next chapter might take a while. I have my big final maths exam coming up. (I don't need to say any more or do I?)**

**Concerning book seven I can only say that I was really really disappointed when it came to Sirius because I had honestly hoped for him to return. Well instead of ranting about it (which I have already done for several hours) I will continue writing. So enjoy and PLEASE REVIEW!**

**Chapter 10**

Life had gotten much easier since this night at the Room of Requirement. Annie had finally lost much of her shyness when talking to James Potter, even though she still didn't feel comfortable enough around him to act completely herself. This didn't bother her much though. She was quite thankful that she didn't swallow her own tongue every time she saw the infamous marauder. And this happened much more often than before. The atmosphere at tutoring sessions was more relaxed than ever and even during the day James finally acknowledged her existence and she found herself pretty often in the company of the four boys. She noticed however that every time James approached her it seemed to be because of some advice he wanted to get concerning Lily Evans. Annie did her best to ignore this though, she was just glad that she finally was being noticed – no matter the reason.

James was slowly but surely making progress with Lily, because of Annie's constant advice. The fact that Annie was sitting in the Common Room with the marauders more often nowadays seemed to be as much for her sake as for James' since she had adverted at least a dozen disasters, when James seemed to be on the verge to retreat to his old ways. With the help of Sirius and Remus however, who seemed to have quickly caught onto what she was doing, they had always managed to get through James' thick head and bring him back down to earth. The new arrangement of the girl joining the four lads every so often also seemed to have a positive affect on the rest of the group. Remus, being the quiet one could much more easily relate to Annie when she seemed to draw back into herself, whereas Sirius seemed to have taken up the job to try to get her to open up as often as possible. It was just two days until the Halloween feast and every fifth year and above seemed to have either sorted out who they were going with or was in a hurry to do so.

The feast was also the main topic among Sirius, Remus and James who were sitting around the fireplace. Annie was in the library trying to find a book for her History of Magic Essay, whereas Wormtail had simply disappeared a while ago more or less unnoticed by the rest of the group.

"So who do you reckon I should take?" James asked for the umpteenth time, merely gaining a groan from his two friends sitting opposite him. Remus who had been trying to read until then, carefully closed his book and focused on him.

"Prongs we've been through this." he explained and even though his voice was calm and collected Sirius could detect a hint of annoyance. He bit back a smirk, he knew the full moon was coming up in a week, which left Remus much more short tempered than usually.

James merely snorted and threw Remus an annoyed look. Admittedly they had talked about this before but this didn't mean he had to like the answer he was receiving.

"What's wrong with asking Lily to accompany me to the feast?" He asked with a dreamy look on his face, clearly imagining what a wonderful couple the two of them would make. Sirius' voice shook him from his thoughts.

"Because" Sirius slowly explained, as if talking to a toddler, "You wouldn't want to destroy all the progress you just made." Remus threw Sirius an impressed glance.

"I couldn't have said it better myself. What's up with you Padfoot?"

"Yeah", James said, but he didn't sound at all impressed. "Who are you and what have you done to Sirius?"

Sirius just shook his head. "It's nothing. I just don't see the point for you James trying to impress Evans for ages and then when it is finally working, destroying all of that in one night."

James looked downright affronted now. "Why should I mess this up so badly?"

"Because you just can't help yourself when you're around Evans. Remember we've watched you mess up for years." Remus said bluntly and Sirius couldn't help but wonder how much of this was Remus and how much of this was Moony talking. He quickly decided to interfere though before this developed into a real fight.

"Isn't there anyone else you could consider going with? Someone, you know, you feel comfortable with?"

James let out another snort of amusement. "Padfoot you know I've just broken up with this stupid Ravenclaw girl, seriously I think she was just dating me for my looks."

Remus and Sirius looked at each other and started to laugh, Remus was the first to regain the ability to speak. Even though he still sounded somewhat amused, the sharp undertone in his voice had not yet completely disappeared.

"You do realize James how conceited you just sounded?" James leaned back in his armchair and shrugged somewhat apologetically.

"I know, it's just nerves I guess. I really don't want to go alone to this thing."

Suddenly a thought entered his mind. "Do you two already have dates?"

Remus grinned somewhat smugly. "As a matter of fact I do." James stared at him dumfoundedly, Sirius too looked surprise but was a little better at hiding it.

"Who are you going with then?" James asked, sounding earnestly interested. If someone deserved a date for the feast it was Remus.

"Oh you know, Stefanie." Remus answered, trying not to sound too happy about it.

While James asked Remus how he had managed to ask this particular girl out, nonetheless a close friend of Lily's, Sirius was trying to figure out what to do about his date dilemma. He knew whom he wanted to take, he just didn't know if he would have enough courage to actually follow through with his plan. He knew she'd never be interested in him in this way, not since it was this obvious that she had her eyes on his best mate. Nonetheless, Sirius couldn't help but feel a little bit hopeful that if no one else asked her, maybe she would consider going with him as friends. This thought brought a smile to his face, which grew even bigger when he saw the portrait hole open and Annie Jordan enter. Now was his time! He slowly rose in order to ask if he could have a private word with her but James bet him to it.

He could only watch while the two left the Common Room through the Portrait hole again and Sirius turned to Remus for an explanation.

"What on earth has just happened?"

Remus threw him a pitiful look and had just opened in his mouth in order to explain when they heard a small shriek from outside and the portrait hole burst open again. Annie stormed in and if it hadn't been for the brilliant smile on her face Sirius would have been worried. She didn't join the two boys at the fireplace though, instead ran upstairs to the girls' dormitories and a few seconds later came back with a warm cloak and a small object in her hand, which Sirius couldn't quite make out. He watched helplessly as she ran back out of the room. A few seconds later James entered with a smug smile on his face and flung himself lazily into the armchair he had occupied before.

Sirius took a deep calming breath, he knew that the look on James' face didn't mean something good and the fact that it was coinciding with Annie's brilliant mood didn't bode well either.

"Care to explain what just happened?" Sirius asked in a would-be calm voice.

"Oh I found the perfect solution to my problem. You guys said that asking Lily to accompany me would be wrong and believe it or not, I do agree with you."

Sirius felt Remus shuffling around in the chair beside him, but didn't take his eyes off his best mate. James had never agreed so readily to a plan if it was going against his own wishes and Sirius knew that the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain had had his pants in a twist for weeks because he had been advised not to ask the girl of his dreams to be his date.

"I agree because I think I've figured out a much more effective method in order to get closer to Lily." James said smugly.

Sirius couldn't shake the feeling of foreboding when Remus spoke up, he too sounded somewhat suspiciously.

"What do you mean James?"

"I will make her jealous." James explained with the air of someone who had just found the perfect solution to all the problems in the world.

Sirius' stomach dropped, he knew what was coming.

"I just asked Jordan if she would care to accompany me on Friday and she wholeheartedly agreed. Seemed a little overexcited coming to think of it, seeing we're merely going as friends." He added as afterthought.

"You told her this right?" Sirius growled and earned himself a thoroughly confused look.

"Told her what?" James asked oblivious and without a care in the world.

"Told her that you were just going as friends. Told her that you were only using her in order to make another girl jealous."

James seemed to have finally picked up on Sirius' tone of voice and the big smile on his face vanished in an instant.

"If you put it like this – well no but…" He didn't get the chance to continue, since Sirius had jumped up and ran into the boys' dormitory slamming the door shut behind him. James looked at Remus waiting for an explanation but all the young werewolf could do was bury his head in his hands.

Annie felt like she was floating not walking. She couldn't believe it. James Potter had finally asked her out. Well not exactly, but he had asked her to be his date for the Halloween feast, a position most females at Hogwarts would kill for. She had thought, no she had been sure that he was going to ask Lily but it turned out that he hadn't. That he preferred her, Annie Jordan over Lily Evans. It really felt like a dream come true.

Everything had started innocently enough. She had just returned to the Common Room from the library, when James asked her to have a private word. Thinking it had to be something concerning either their tutoring sessions or Lily Evans she had followed him out the portrait hole and into an empty classroom understanding his need not to be overheard. When he had asked her if she would like to accompany him to the Halloween celebrations she had been overjoyed. At once she had agreed to go with him and trying not to let on how much it meant to her she had excused herself with some feeble apology. She ran back to the portrait hole and couldn't help but let out a squeal of excitement – her biggest dream had come true. She sprinted up to her dormitory grabbing her cloak and the two-way mirror and ran back downstairs and out of the Common Room again. All she wanted to do right now was to tell Michael about the happy news.

She sat down under her favorite tree at the edge of the lake.

With a huge smile on her face, she looked into the mirror and called for her brother, who appeared at once. When he saw her smiling so radiantly he couldn't help but smile as well.

"Hi pup!" he greeted her cheerfully. "What's the matter? Don't you have homework to do or something?" Annie knew he was merely kidding and had a hard time not to interrupt him while he was still speaking. Once he stopped though she blurted out:

"I've got a date!"

Michael merely blinked.

"You have a what?"

"I, oh dear brother of mine, have a date. I've been asked to go to the Halloween feast by none other than James Potter." Annie couldn't help but giggle. She had never felt so happy in her entire life.

"That's great!" Michael exclaimed but then a thoughtful expression appeared on his face. "Hang on you didn't tell me you two were seeing each other."

Annie's expression fell a little bit.

"We're not – yet. But he did ask me to be his date on Friday."

Michael frowned and Annie had a feeling that she wouldn't like what came out of his mouth next. She was right.

" But didn't you tell me just a few days ago that you were helping him to get together with Lily Evans, that you were making great progress?" Annie shook her head disbelievingly. Why couldn't he just be happy for her?

"I did" she agreed half-heartedly. "But everything is different now. He asked me not Lily-" She said stubbornly, trying to ignore the first doubts that were rising in her.

Michaels voice had lost all cheerfulness when he spoke next. "Has it ever occurred to you that maybe James Potter wants to achieve something entirely different by taking you to the feast? That he maybe just wants to…"

"Stop right there." Annie's voice was harsh now, all happiness gone from her face. "James has just asked me out. Me – off all people he asked me. He picked me over anyone else, picked me even over Lily Evans. I will not let you spoil my happiness. I thought that you'd be excited for me, Mike."

Michael sounded desperate when he spoke next.

"Annie – pup- I didn't mean it like this. Just slow down for one second and think about it. James Potter chose you over the girl he had apparently been in love with since first year. Don't you think there's something fishy about it?"

Annie was really angry now and tried to ignore the urge to throw the mirror into the lake, only so that she wouldn't have to see her brother's face, not hear his words, listen to his reasoning.

"I hate you for ruining this for me" she cried out and broke the connection. She remained sitting, only looking out onto the lake but not really seeing it. This was the worst row she had ever had with Michael and it pushed the happiness she had felt only moments before to the back of her mind. She watched a few first years throwing some food into the water for the giant squid. Her brother was wrong and she would prove it. James Potter had asked her out for the sake of her alone, she just knew it.

Annie didn't know how she had gotten through the next day, the day before Halloween. All she knew was that she was incredible happy. True, the fight with Michael had put a damper on her feelings the night before but right now she couldn't care less about what her overprotective brother might be saying. Luckily her mother had insisted on sending Annie her dress robes a few weeks ago even though a few days before she hadn't even been sure if she would be attending the celebrations at all. She stood in front of the mirror right now, tuning out all the other girls in the room who were getting ready for the fest as well. She swirled around once in her navy blue dress robes admiring herself. Even though she usually never paid much attention to her attire she had to admit that dressing up once in a while wasn't too bad. She knew she would never develop the same obsession with clothes that other witches her age shared, but for tonight she didn't mind at all acting a little bit girly for a change.

The other girls must have noticed the mood she was in because suddenly she found Lily standing next to her, looking at her with a smile.

"Hey Annie!" she greeted. "You look really nice." Annie thankfully smiled at Lily. The girl was wearing a green dress robe and looked as excited as Annie.  
"Can you believe that they hold two different Halloween feasts this year? A senior and a junior one? I am so happy that we're in sixth year!" Lily exclaimed which caused everyone in the room to giggle and Annie couldn't help but join in.

"I know it's wonderful" she said earnestly. "Even though this required getting dates."

"But that's half the fun of it." Stefanie chimed in and everybody nodded. Annie had to agree, at least this time getting a date hadn't been a problem at all.

Sarah, another one of her roommates, came to stand beside Lily and turned to Annie.

"So who is taking you to the ball Annie?"

Annie wasn't sure if she should tell or not. But then everyone was going to see her date later that night anyhow.

"How do you know someone asked me? I could be going on my own."

"Oh please", Sarah snorted disbelievingly. "With this silly smile you had on your face all day?"

"Oh fine." Annie conceded, though finding it not really hard to admit. "If you must know. James is taking me."

The whole room quieted at once.

"James?" Lily asked quietly. "You mean as in James Potter?"

Annie blushed self-consciously, not knowing how to interpret the now somewhat depressing silence.

"Yes" she admitted quietly "as in James Potter."  
The excited and friendly atmosphere from before was gone instantly. Lily walked over to her bed and sat down heavily, the other girls stood around her, whispering. When Annie tried to approach Lily she had the impression that the other girls were only letting her pass with reluctance, a notion Annie just couldn't understand. What were they all so worked up about?  
When she stood right in front of Lily she tried to meet the other girl's eyes but failed to do so. Lily's face was hidden by her red hair while she was fiddling with the hem of her robe, clearly trying to get a grip on herself.

"Did I say something wrong, Lily?" she asked thoroughly confused.

She saw how the other girl straightened up and then looked at her. It was impossible for Annie to interpret the look on the girl's face. It seemed somewhat guarded, the happy and carefree expression from before had vanished.

"No, Annie." Lily said forcefully. "You didn't _say_ anything wrong at all."

And with this she walked out of the Common Room followed by the rest of girls, leaving a thoroughly confused Annie behind.

Annie walked back to her own bed, slowly sitting down on it. The way Lily acted didn't make any sense at all. Why did she care if James Potter was taking her, Annie, to the ball? Lily couldn't stand the Gryffindor Seeker. She shouldn't have minded even if he was taking Moaning Myrtle. But then a thought suddenly appeared to her, a most unwelcome thought. Could it be that Lily Evans was jealous? No, that couldn't be it, or could it? James and the fiery redhead started to get along with each other only a couple of weeks ago. Most of the time had involved her or one of the other lads stomping on James foot (rather hard in Sirius' case) in order to keep him from saying anything stupid. Annie had been aware that things were indeed looking up she just hadn't thought that Lily's interest would be so easily captured.   
She knew that she should be feeling happy about it. This was exactly what Dumbledore had wanted her to do. But this had been before James had asked her out. _James _

She checked her watch and quickly walked over to the door, whatever Lily had to be thinking right out, there was nothing Annie could do about it. James had asked her out after all and she couldn't help but smile at the thought that it seemed as if he had indeed chosen her over one of the most popular girls at Hogwarts.

Sirius was pacing at the bottom of the staircase; James was standing beside him with a dreamy look on his face. Lily had just passed him with most of the other girls' in tow and even though she had done nothing else but scowl at James it seemed as if it was impossible for the lad with the unruly black hair to stop drooling over how the girl of his dreams had looked tonight. Even Sirius' had to admit that Evans wasn't bad looking, especially not tonight but right now he couldn't care less. Since Remus had already walked off with his giggling date, it was Sirius' task to keep James in check. He still couldn't believe the reason for James to take Annie Jordan to the feast but no matter how much Remus and Sirius had tried to make James realize what was going to happen if his date for the evening found out, James refused to see reason. Sirius' didn't dare to think what would happen if Annie discovered what James was planning and it had taken him a lot of self-restraint not to knock some sense into the thick head of his best mate. So in the end he had decided (well Remus and him had decided) that Sirius was going to monitor James' behavior closely. Sirius knew from watching the girl that she seemed smitten by James' and by the way James had talked about her, he seemed to have caught on as well.

"… _seemed little overexcited" - _The arrogance that had been displayed by James' at this occasion still caused Sirius to scowl. Who was James to judge someone he didn't know at all?

Sirius would have gotten even more lost on his thoughts when he hadn't picked up on the light sound of someone descending the staircase from the girls dormitory.

Annie was carefully walking down the stairs, her eyes fixed on her feet as if trying to keep herself from tripping. The blue dress robes she wore seemed to be changing from a dark blue into a light blue while she walked and Sirius couldn't help but wonder if this was an actual charm or merely a trick of the light. He cleared his throat when Annie finally came to a halt in front of the two boys.

"Hi Annie" he said nervously, trying to remind himself that he wasn't taking her to the feast tonight, so technically there was no need whatsoever for him to be nervous. _Technically my ass…_

"Hi Sirius" he gave him a happy smile but Sirius could tell that by the way she was holding herself she still seemed quite nervous. She heard her taking a calming breath when her eyes moved towards his best mate on his right.

"Hi James" Sirius didn't miss the uncertainty in her voice and a look at James' face told him the reason for it. James was still staring unblinkingly at the portrait hole where Lily Evans had disappeared a while ago, apparently still lost in his thoughts.

"You look really nice tonight." Sirius said quietly and took the opportunity when Annie adverted her glace and blushed to elbow James in the side….hard.

It took James a moment to regain his bearings and he looked somewhat surprised when his eyes fell on the girl standing right in front of him.

"Oh hi Annie" he gave her a friendly smile. "Shall we go then?"

Annie nodded and Sirius could do nothing but suppress a growl and follow them when James led her out of the Gryffindor common room towards the Great Hall, where the senior feast was taking place.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Hi everybody (who is still reading)

I know this chapter took ages, but it was the hardest one yet! I had to try to make it as believable as possible and this is the fifth draft now. My best friend said if I didn't post it now she would stop talking to me altogether…so here it is. Please, please, please review, I really need the feedback to improve! Oh and by the way: Nothing is my own!

Enjoy!

**Chapter 11**

When they entered, the feast had already begun. Instead of the four house tables there were a lot of smaller tables, accommodating five pupils each, at the back of the Great Hall. On the podium on which the teachers' table usually stood Annie could see a large magical jukebox. Annie had seen one like these before on her father's last birthday. In contrary to its non-magical counterparts did this jukebox not only play the chosen songs but also produced ghost-like shapes of the artists who performed to the audience. Depending on the quality of the equipment the artists' copies seemed more or less life-like. While Annie was sitting down besides James who had taken a seat at a table close to the dance floor she realized that the professors in charge of the dance seemed to have put a lot of effort into the evening. Not only were the decorations of living bats, huge pumpkins and floating candles extremely well prepared but Annie also thought that it nearly seemed as if the real artists were performing on stage. Right now there was a small ghost-like orchestra playing soft tunes serving as background music while dinner was served. A huge buffet appeared on an until then empty row of tables which had been pushed up to the right wall of the Great Hall and some people hastily jumped up in order to grab themselves a bite to eat. Annie focused her attention on James' who had been uncharacteristically quiet until then, staring hard at a spot a feet behind Annie.

Annie chose to ignore it and tried to shake James from his musings.

"So…uhm… what do you reckon James? Do you enjoy the party?" James didn't even take the effort to look her in the eye while replying,

"It seems alright."

"Good!" Annie was at a loss of what to say next. If she didn't know better she might think that James didn't really care that she was sitting right next to him, trying to strike up a conversation with him. She looked down at her hands trying to figure out what to say next, maybe sports would do the trick.

"So what do you think James, who's gonna win the Quidditch Cup this year?" She tried to put as much enthusiasm into her words as possible, hoping to pull James from his brooding. When instead of answering her question he still stared at the same spot as before, Annie visibly deflated. There had to be a way for her to pull James out of his musings and make him pay some attention to her. After another few minutes during which James did nothing but stare into space, Annie felt as if she needed a break and stood up.

"I am just going to get something from the buffet…" she didn't bother to ask him if he wanted anything, knowing that it was pointless anyhow. After all she had come here as his date, not as his bloody waitress. When he merely gave a slight nod of his head showing that he had understood, Annie threw a look towards where James had been staring and quickly walked towards the buffet, not feeling the slightest bit hungry.

When Sirius had seen Annie leave the table he had seen this as his chance to catch a quick word with his best mate. He had watched the two of them since they had entered the Great Hall together and by now he was quite angry with James, to put it mildly. He had not missed the looks, the star seeker had shot Lily Evans all night but Annie thankfully didn't seem to have noticed where exactly her "date's" looks had wondered. From the look of bewilderment on her face, Sirius assumed that even though she didn't know exactly what was distracting James' she was still not too happy about the way he acted. Sirius dropped himself into the chair opposite James' where Annie had sat just a few moments before and when James' didn't give any answer to his greeting he kicked him against the shin, this finally seemed to do what Annie had been trying in vain so far, it caught James' attention.

"Ouch-" he exclaimed, glaring at Sirius. "That hurt."

"Good" Sirius replied darkly, glaring back at him. "What do you think you're doing?"

James shot him a somewhat confused look.

"I was sitting here, minding my own business until you came along." His voice still held a high degree of annoyance of being kicked earlier.

"Shouldn't you be, well I don't know, enjoying your time with the girl you asked to accompany you?" Sirius asked, barely concealing the anger in his own voice.

"That's what I was doing, wasn't I? We just arrived and we were just watching the crowd for a bit." He smirked a bit. "I never thought that I had to explain the fine points of socializing to you Sirius."

"And I never thought I'd have to tell you how to treat a girl right and teach you some manners!" Sirius shot back, obviously upset now.

"Whatever do you…"

"Annie, James! Annie…as in your date for the evening. Annie Jordan." Sirius tried to make James understand but the boy seemed to be just too stubborn to listen.

"What about her?" he asked, slightly agitated now.

"Don't you think she deserves at least some of your attention instead of having to watch her date drool over another girl all night. A girl I might add who has been dancing with ten different blokes all night.

"I am not drooling" James snapped. "It's none of your business how I decide to spend my night. And for your information. Everything is going according to plan. Lily merely means to tick me off, because I didn't ask her out. Which is your fault by the way"

"My fault" Sirus asked incrediously and jumped to his feet. "How is that my fault."

"You told me I shouldn't ask her out!" James nearly shouted at him and jumped up as well. "And because of you I am stuck with this moron for the night now."

"Don't call her that!"

" "What on earth is going on?" she asked dumfounded. Annie hadn't heard any of the words the two lads had spoken but she couldn't help but notice that she hadn't ever seen James and Sirius like this. Sirius actually looked about ready to hit James and Annie decided that the best course of action would be to separate the two of them.

"Sirius, would you mind if James and I had a quick word, alone?" Sirius blinked as if just realizing who was talking to him. He gave a somewhat nonchalant shrug and threw James another evil glare but before the two boys could go back to their game of "Who's got the scarier glare", Annie had grabbed James sleeve and pulled him out onto the balcony.

James seemed to be puzzled by the behavior of the usually quiet and shy girl. Annie on the other hand was just feeling sick of being ignored all night and the near fight with Sirius had made Annie realize that something really had to be off, for having James react like that.

The small balcony, which she had pulled the boy onto was deserted and Annie quickly let go of James' sleeve when she realized that she had still been holding onto it. She turned to face him expectantly but James didn't look as if it was very likely for him to speak any time soon.

"James." Annie said softly, not wanting to anger the enraged Gryffindor any more. "What happened in there?"

"Nothing" James said stiffly and turned away from her. Annie wouldn't have it and walked round him to face him once more.

"It didn't look like nothing to me" she said, unsure if she should go on. Her words didn't seem to help James' mood in the slightest.

"Please tell me what's been going on. Why is Sirius upset with you?"

"It's none of your business." His voice shook slightly and although she knew better, Annie pushed on, hoping to relieve him of some of the tension.

"What did the two of you argue about?"

When James spoke next his voice had lost any sort of self-restraint.

"You really wanna know?" He asked so loudly that it made Annie flinch but she still nodded.

"Yes I do wanna know."

"I'll tell you what's going on. Firstly Lily is dancing with everyone else in the room but didn't as much as look at me all night."

He wanted to go on but Annie interrupted him, sounding somewhat puzzled.

"Lily? What has Lily got to do with any of it, I thought you asked me to the ball."

"And why do you reckon I did this?" he asked coldy. "Because you're so extremely good-looking?" He gave a harsh laugh, which seemed to cut right into Annie's heart. She involuntarily took a step back.  
"You don't mean that" she said toneless, not knowing how to react.

"In fact I do" James said with a mirthless laugh. "I asked you Annie to come with me in order…"

"…to make Lily jealous." Annie completed his sentence and couldn't bear to look him in the eye.

"Exactly." James agreed quietly. Most of the anger had suddenly disappeared from his voice but Annie seemed too shaken to notice.

She took a few calming breath and looked him squarely in the eye, although her voice quivered slightly.

"Then I think Potter, you've reached your goal. Why do you think she has been dancing with every bloke in the room tonight?" She took another step back.

"But you know what?" She chuckled mirthlessly. " I am done, I am through. Go to your precious Lily Evans if it makes you happy, but don't come running to me if it all blows up in your face."

James opened his mouth in order to say something but it was exactly this moment that Sirius chose to enter the scene.

"Annie" he said carefully and the girl turned her blazing eyes on him.

"You were in on it too? All of you, weren't you?" she asked and her voice shook once more. "Was that the newest prank you guys decided to pull? Let's see Annie Jordan make a complete fool of herself."

Sirius didn't get the chance to answer because before he had even opened his mouth she had already stormed past him and out of the Great Hall.

Annie didn't know where she was going. All she knew that she was feeling angry, confused, betrayed and so many other things that she couldn't even sort out her own feelings. She ran up to Gryffindor tower, nearly shouting the password at the fat lady and ran up to her Common Room, hiding herself under her sheets. She felt a sob rising in her chest but suppressed it, unwilling to cry.

It was her own fault, she though bitterly. She had listened to Dumbledore, she had let people close and the outcome had been exactly what she had feared. Friends with the marauders, who had she been kidding? For the last six years she had been friendless and life had been all right. At least she didn't have to pretend to be somebody she wasn't. She ignored the little voice in her head telling her that during the last weeks she had finally begun to really feel like herself once more. Even Michael had commented on it…Michael. Her bother had been right all along. He had seen right through the marauders' stupid plan. Her big sensible brother had known that James Potter had to have been scheming something, Michael had warned her. And how had she reacted? She had snapped at him like an ungrateful six year-old. On top of all the bad sensations she was already experiencing, now she could also feel hot guilt make its way slowly down to her stomach. She closed her eyes and buried her face in her pillow once more. Her brother's confused and sad face flashed in front of her eyes. How could she tell him how sorry she was? Then suddenly Michael's face turned into James' evil snarl and she could also make out Sirius in the background, egging him on.

Her eyes shot open again. She would do anything right now but lay in bed and pity herself. She quickly got back to her feet and swiftly walked over to her trunk. She was still feeling devastated and she wanted no she needed her brother to forgive her, tell her that everything was going to be alright like he always did. So she snatched the mirror from the now open trunk but stopped herself before she could call out her brother's name. A though had just came to her, she quickly checked her watch and was glad that she had done so. It was nearly midnight and Annie knew that the teachers would send the students back up to their dormitories once it was twelve o'clock. She made a quick decision and grabbed a warm cloak and wrapped it around herself. She would use the few minutes to curfew to make her way outside. Annie realized that this had to be utter madness, after all it was now the beginning of November and the nights were already showing how cold the upcoming winter was going to be.

The girl shrugged it off. If there was any time to do something reckless, it was now. She felt the pain of being used like this my James and his friends but before her mind could go ways she didn't want it to, she quickly and purposefully walked over to the door of the dormitory. Just when she stretched out her hand to grasp the door-knob the door flung open. It took Annie a second to realize who was standing in front of her. Professor McGonagall looked slightly surprised as well at finding Annie standing there in her evening outfit and a thick cloak thrown over it.

"Miss Jordan" she said finally once she had overcome her surprise. "I must ask you to accompany me."

Annie looked at her blankly, not sure what to say. Before she even got the chance to say anything Professor McGonagall pushed on.

"Please come with me to the headmaster's office. He will explain everything to you."

"Why?" Annie had finally found her voice again. "What happened?"

The transfiguration teacher closed her eyes for a second, as if gathering her strength for what she was going to say next.

"This is about your family Annie" she said gently. "Something has happened to them. Professor Dumbledore will explain more fully."

Annie stood rooted to the spot. Only slowly did the professor's words register in her already overworked brain. She nodded mutely and followed the older woman down the staircase, out of the portrait hole and towards the headmaster's office.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N I am really sorry for the delay but university is freakin' hard right now. All my professors seem to think that I do not need a private life whatsoever and assigned me all these long and boring tasks. Because of all the wonderful reviews I received however I decided tonight to just take a night off studying and to finally update once more. I tried my best but there still might be some language mistakes in there.

Anyhow, enjoy reading and please review!

**Chapter 12**

Annie sprinted towards Dumbledore's office. She had lost Professor McGonagall somewhere along the way but she didn't care. What did it mean something had happened to her family? Seriously, could you be any more vague? Annie snorted in disgust but kept running nonetheless. She came to an abrupt halt when a staircase in front of her chose just this moment to change positions. She let out a loud curse, the one time she was in a real hurry to get to the headmaster's office the castle seemed to be plotting against her. She tapped her foot impatiently waiting for the ruddy staircase to come back. Wanting to distract herself from the dark thoughts of what could have happened to her parents or siblings she let her mind wander somewhere else. Sadly though the new thoughts that came weren't any better than the old ones. While staring unseeingly at the whispering portraits around her, she thought about the ball she had just left. She couldn't believe that the marauders had thought it funny to use her like this. She had let herself get her hopes up that somebody, that James Potter the most wanted guy in Hogwarts had finally noticed her but in the end it all turned out a stupid prank. What the hell did they think this was? She had told herself at the very beginning to be careful, to not get too invested into anything of this. Even Michael had warned her…Michael!

Annie quickly shook her head, feeling guilty about forgetting her family if only for a moment. She glanced towards the place the staircase had disappeared earlier and found that it had reconnected again. Quickly, before it could change its mind again, she continued the way towards the headmaster's office, ignoring all the gaping students she passed.

Finally she reached the two gargoyles guarding the entrance to the hidden staircase. She was totally out of breath and only managed to cough out the password to the two stone figures. Thankfully Hogwarts didn't seem in the mood to complicate Annie's life any further and the winding staircase appeared. Annie jumped on it but didn't wait for it to carry her upwards. She quickly walked upstairs willing herself not to break out into a run again. She wanted to keep at least some breath in order to be able to ask all the questions that had been whirling around in her mind. She knocked against the heavy wooden door, her anxiousness returning in full force now. The girl had no idea what to expect but not wanting to be left in the dark any longer, she knocked once more and waited. When there came no reply she raised her hand once more to repeat the gesture but before her knuckles even touched the dark brown wood, she heard the headmaster's voice calling out to her.   
"Enter"

Annie quickly pushed the door open but remained standing in the doorway, giving her eyes a moment to adjust. The room was dimly lit and it took the girl a moment to notice the headmaster who was sitting behind his enormous desk watching her carefully.

"Please come closer Miss Jordan and take a seat."

Annie obliged but her eyes didn't leave Dumbledore's while she walked towards the desk and sat down in one of the big fluffy chairs. The man in front of her, although always seeming quite old, seemed to have aged about twenty years since the last time she had seen him. The twinkle in his eyes seemed to have gone out and when he looked at her sadly, she felt the urgent need to swallow. Dumbledore looking like this, couldn't mean anything good to her personal situation.

"Sir, Professor McGonagall told me that something happened to my family." She watched her headmaster straightening up.

"Yes, indeed. There had been an attack in your hometown Annie." Annie looked at him confused. She lived in one of the most boring parts of England, a part where nothing ever happened.

"An attack? Why, I don't understand? We're living in a muggle area, why should there be any attacks?"

Suddenly a thought struck her.

"Does Voldemort have anything to do with it?"

Dumbledore nodded slightly. "Yes, it were his followers who attacked the town. A lot of innocent muggles got in the crossfire and we weren't able to save all of them.

"Who is we sir? Annie asked quietly, already suspecting that her family had to be involved in this fight as well.

" _We_ means aurors and other witches and wizards who do not support the rise of Voldemort."

Annie nodded feeling from Dumbledore's reserved tone of voice that he wasn't going to tell her any specific names any time soon. And to be quite honest she didn't really care, all she wanted to know was why exactly Professor McGonagall had fetched her from the Gryffindor common room so late at night.

"If you say the aurors were involved does that mean my father and my oldest brother were fighting as well?" She felt sick of just the idea what it could mean that two members of her family had been involved in such a dangerous fight. Before she could get lost in her thoughts once more, the headmaster spoke up again.

"Yes I am afraid so. Your father was able to protect quite a few muggles and to help fight off many death-eaters. He was only slightly injured and told to save the rest of your family. He was able to create an emergency portkey and nearly all of them got out of there unscathed.

"Nearly all of them?" Annie whispered.

Dumbledore's voice turned even graver.

"Your brother Michael had been captured by a few death-eaters and they used the cruciatus curse on him repeatedly. He is in St. Mungos at the moment and the healers there are doing everything in their power to revive him. We do not know if he will wake up again."

Annie felt her head spin. This couldn't be. Her favorite brother could not lie hurt in St. Mungos, maybe about to die.

"Miss Jordan? Annie, are you alright?" Dumbledore's voice only slightly penetrated the heavy fog that seemed to cloud her mind.

The last time she had talked to Michael they had been arguing. She had been accusing him, told him that she hated him and now he might never wake up again. She might never get another chance to tell him how she really felt.

She stood up, wanting to get away, be left in peace, but right as she stood she felt her legs shaking beneath her and a wave of dizziness hitting her, Suddenly she could feel herself being supported by Dumbledore and she let him guide her back to the chair she had been sitting in.

"Annie please, say something" Dumbledore's face swam in and out of focus and Annie had to use every ounce of strength she had in order to regulate her breathing, trying to focus on the calm voice of the old man in front of her.

"I need to see them." This was a statement, not a request. Dumbledore nodded gravely.

"The floo network to St. Mungos is ready to be used. Go and be with your family. You are excused from lessons until further notice."

"Thank you", Annie said quietly. In all honesty she hadn't even considered school. Classes were the last thing on her mind right now. She stood up, walked towards the fireplace and took some floo powder out of the small bucket that Dumbledore offered her.

"Thanks again, Sir." She said looking Dumbledore in the eye.

"It's alright. Go."

"St. Mungos", she cried out and the last thing she saw was Dumbledore sinking back in his huge chair.

Annie felt her head spin when she got out of the fireplace. After the quiet and calm atmosphere in Dumbledore's office, the hectic ongoings in the wizardring hospital came as quite a shock to her system, which didn't help any with her nerves. She willed herself not to panic again though, her collapsing on the cold marble floor wouldn't help anyone, least of all Michael. With a pang it came back to her why exactly she was standing in the middle of the waiting area of the only wizarding hospital in Great Britain and letting her eyes wonder, she quickly spotted what she had been looking and briskly walked over to the reception desk, trying not to show how scared she was feeling inside.

The bright blue desk stood out against the yellow walls of the huge hall and Annie couldn't help but suspect that the décor must have been done by a muggle-born or at least a half-blooded witch or wizard, since she had found that most pureblooded folks seemed to be color-blind. Even though the colors did stand out they were by no means hurting the eyes but giving the room a friendly and cheerful atmosphere. The young with who sat behind the desk, looked only a few years older than herself and with a start she realized that this was Susan sitting in front of her, one of her sister's Janette's friend. She gave a small sigh of relieve, Susan had been to their place quite frequently during the holidays visiting Janette and Luke. The twins, even though in the same year had been sorted into different houses. Whereas Luke had been sorted into Gryffindor just like the rest of the family, Janette had been sent into Rawenclaw house by the sorting hat. She had never complained though, it seemed that she had enjoyed being separated from her twin brother for a change and doing something on her own. Both twins had been Prefects and Janette had even been made Head-Girl when Annie had just entered Hogwarts as a first-year.

"Hey Susan", Annie said with the most animated voice she could muster. "How are you?"

Susan looked up and after a few seconds she smiled at Annie,

"Hi Annie", her smile faltered. "I already heard what happened to Michael. Your family is up in ICU waiting for the healers to finish."

"Can you tell me where exactly I have to go?" Annie asked, fear creeping into her voice. What could take the healers so long? Dumbledore had said they had already checked him.

Susan must have noticed the change in Annie's demeanor and quickly stood up. "I can do even better, I'll take you there. Hang on just a sec."

"Hey Andrew", she called over to a co-worker who had been hovering around the reception area, looking around Susan's age and slightly bored. "Can you cover for me for a few minutes?"

"Sure", he nodded, a little unenthusiastic and went to sit down in Susan's chair.

"Let's go then". Susan grabbed Annie's hand and pulled her towards the elevators. She began to talk before they had even reached the small group of people who were also waiting for the lift.

"They brought him in two hours ago" she said quietly and Annie turned to her with a thankful look in the eyes, glad that the older girl didn't try to distract her with any kind of small talk, which wouldn't have worked anyhow.

"I was up there doing my regular shift and I was told to help with the new arrival." She sent Annie a sad look. "I was only told that there had been death-eaters activities and that we would get a twenty-four year-old Auror who had been injured in battle. I had no idea that it was your brother."

The elevator arrived and when the door opened Annie followed Susan and the other witches and wizards inside.

"I didn't even recognize him at first" Susan continued with a low voice once the lift doors had closed and the small space started to move up to the higher levels.

Annie gasped slightly at these words but finally found her voice. "Did he really look that bad?"

Susan merely nodded. Annie didn't say anything else but stared straight ahead, trying to ignore the other conversations. She felt Susan giving her hand a squeeze when the door opened in the second level and she motioned for the girl to get out. "Just go straight ahead and you should run into your family right away, I am sorry I can't come but I have to get back to the desk. Andrew can't be trusted with important tasks for too long."

Annie smiled at her feeble attempt of humor and stepped out of the elevator.  
"Thanks Susan".

"Don't mention it. And give your family my regards, I'll check in later again to see how it's going. Find me if you need anything."

Annie nodded and turned around, not even waiting until the lift doors were closed again. She concentrated hard on setting one foot after the other trying to think of nothing else but Susan's voice kept repeating in her head,

_I didn't even recognize him at first._

The plain white walls of the hallway she was slowly walking through provided no distraction either and Annie stared glumly ahead while keeping on walking.

When she turned a corner, she could see a heavy pair of glass doors on which was written ICU in bold red letters and in the waiting right in front of it she spotted her family. Luke and Janette were sitting on a pair of chairs, looking upset and talking quietly to each other.

Her mum and dad seemed both too anxious to sit. Even from afar Annie could see the bandage around her father's head and she remembered that he had been hurt in the fight as well. It couldn't have been anything too serious though when he was already there, walking in circles in front of the entrance to place where her oldest brother was being treated.

She quickly walked up to her parents. "Mum, dad?" she asked quietly and the moment her mother saw her she gave a strangled cry and pulled her in a bone-crushing hug.  
"Mum, it's alright", Annie whispered and patted her back ackwardly. She didn't know how to handle a slightly hysteric mother. After a few long moments she carefully let go of her mother and turned towards her father.

"Dad, how is he? Professor Dumbledore already told me what happened. Annie looked at her father and saw a flash of anger cross his father's features when her headmaster's name was mentioned.

"Nothing changed. He is still unresponsive. The Healers tried about anything. They told us we could see him soon."

"But I am sure he will wake up as soon as he had the chance to rest a bit, won't he?" Annie tried to sound more confident than she actually felt.

"Sure, dear." Her father gave her a tired small, obviously trying to humor her. She racked her brain of what to say next but nothing came to her. She glanced once more into the faces of her closest family and noticed how grey and tired they all looked. She noticed the nervousness returning again when she watched her parents taking up their pacing in front of the entrance to the ICU again.  
She sat down in a chair a few feet from the twins, not wanting to disturb the two and held her head in her hands. She still felt as if it was spinning from all the things that had happened to her during the last hours but she didn't feel like trying to figure out all the different thoughts and emotions that were going through her head, it was just to painful. Just when she decided that she would go and see if she could get some coffee anywhere the doors to the ICU opened and a man who appeared to be in his late forties stepped through and walked towards them. Her parents had frozen in place and Annie and the twins had jumped up simultaneously.

They quickly walked over to their parents. It was Luke who found his voice first.

"How is he?"

The healer looked at them with a face void of all emotion. Annie cursed him inwardly for his professional demeanor, which didn't provide her with the slightest hint for figuring out how her brother was doing.

She held her breath for what seemed to her like an eternity before the man in front of her finally opened his mouth to speak.

"He is as well as can be expected."

Annie nodded even though she didn't quite know what to make of these words. What did "as well as can be expected" mean? Was he on his deathbed or was he going to join the Chudley Channons next season?

Her father seemed to be thinking along the same lines.  
"What does that mean exactly?"

"He is still unconscious but we were able to release him from most of the spells that were necessary to stabilize him in the first place. He's breathing on his own again.

Annie felt as if she had been just suffered a severe blow in her stomach. Her brother hadn't been breathing before?

"When can we see him?" she blurted out before she could stop herself. The wish to make sure for herself that Michael was still there with them was so strong that she had to force herself not to walk past the healer and go looking for her oldest brother herself.

The healer turned to her.

"You can go and see him now if you want. Only two people at a time please and do make sure to avoid anything that could be stressful for Mr. Jordan."

The five family members nodded. Annie's mother turned towards them "Your father and I will go in first, after we returned you can come." Annie's mother and father followed the doctor through the door of the ICU and Annie couldn't help but stare after them, feeling slightly put out, She would do anything right now to be able to be in there with them.

A slight touch on her shoulder brought her back to reality. "You alright, Annie?" It was Janette, She and Luke were looking at her concerned. "I'm fine" She said and gave them a fake smile. "I am just glad that they were able to stabilize him." The twins nodded and went back to their old seats, resuming their quiet conversation. Annie took up the pacing in front of the entrance to the ICU and after what seemed like years to her, her parents finally returned. She noticed that both of them looked even sadder than they had before and while her mother was dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief, her father was staring unseeingly into space.

Annie felt her stomach drop a few feet and even though before she couldn't wait to get into the hospital room, she now was so scared of going in there that she felt like her feet were glued to the ground.

She turned towards the twins. "You two go in first." Her sister shot her an apprehensive look but said nothing. Together Luke and Janette walked through the doors and Annie couldn't help but overhear her parents whispering. She didn't like what she was hearing the slightest.

"I've never seen him so helpless" her mother sobbed while her father managed to steer her into the chair Luke had be sitting on earlier.

"I know", her father's voice sounded choked as if he was trying to hold back tears. This unsettled Annie even more, not once in the sixteen years of her life she remembered her father crying, ever.

"I cannot believe that they aren't able to figure out what is wrong with him. Maybe we should have taken him to another hospital." Her mother continued babbling. Annie was sure that she was doing this in order to keep herself from braking into tears again. It was a behavior she had picked up from her mother and had perfected herself. Suddenly Annie could hear a low humming tone and when her father reached into his black auror robes he was still wearing, she recognized the small vibrating object he had pulled out of his pockets. It was a small magical communication device and as Annie knew it was used in order to summon Aurors for meetings at Auror headquarter. The little black box seemed to give her father a little of his strength back and he squared his shoulder and schooled his features in the mask of neutrality Annie had often seem on him when he was heading to work. It could be dangerous for an Auror to carry his heart on his sleeve and even though Annie could still see some of the sadness reflected in her father's eyes she couldn't help but feel a flash of annoyance of the fact that the father once more was putting his work before the needs of his family. In Annie's opinion having a heavily injured son in St. mungos should have made it possible for her father to take a few days off work. Annie also noticed the look of hurt flash across her mother's feature when her father explained to her that he had to leave. But like always she didn't say anything merely nodded and watched him disappear.

Annie fought hard to keep her mouth shut about what she thought about her father's quick disappearance but some of her annoyance had to have been showing on her face for suddenly her mother addressed her in a quiet voice.

"I know, Annie. It feels wrong for him to leave but he cannot abandon his colleagues in a time of need."

"What about his family." The words slipped out even though Annie had tried hard to prevent them to do so. She saw her mother closing her eyes for an instant before looking back into Annie's eyes, Annie couldn't read the emotions that seemed to flicker through her mother's face.

"I know that today must have been hard for you but it doesn't help anyone if we jump down each other's throats. Your father has to do what he has to do. Now, I have to go home and sort some things out, please tell your brother and sister where I went. I will be back shortly and than I expect you to go home and rest a bit.

Annie suddenly felt guilty for her behavior towards her parents. Her whole family had been through quite an ordeal tonight. She looked into her mother's tired eyes.

"Look mom, I am sorry, I didn't mean what I said earlier. You've all been through a lot tonight. Why don't you go home and sort everything out. I will send the twins to join you soon and I will stay here for the rest of the night. I think all of you could do with some sleep."

The fact that after a few moments of consideration, her mother agreed to her proposition without arguing told her how exhausted her mother had to be. She didn't think that her mother would agree to leave her sixteen year-old daughter alone in the hospital but obviously now wasn't the right moment to feel overly protective or maybe she was too tired too think about it. Her mother's last words before she left though told Annie that her assumptions had been wrong.

"Please be careful, Annie" She hugged her and Annie watched her mother walk away. When she had just turned the corner and was therefore out of Annie's sight her siblings returned from the ICU. Before they had even the chance to speak Annie told them about the whereabouts of their parents and also told them that their mother was expecting them at home.


End file.
